Sunday, December 11, 2005

Globus Toolkit development receives 13.3 Million from National Science Foundation

NSF has made an award to fund globus toolkit, major source for open source grid technology and development, over 5 years with 13.3 Million. The award is to sustain and enhance the Globus Toolkit.
Globus founders Ian Foster of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory and Carl Kesselman of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (USC/ISI) will lead the project.
"A growing skyscraper of front-line research is now based on Globus," Foster said. "This grant will secure the foundations of that skyscraper. Researchers and educators can now build on this software with confidence, knowing that a dedicated team is available to address problems and to enhance its capabilities as their needs evolve."
The award, entitled "Community Driven Improvement of Globus Software," will support scientists and engineers at UC and USC/ISI. Staff at those two organizations, along with other Globus developers around the world, will work with the scientific community to define and prioritize Globus enhancements. "What's exciting about this award is that it permits both ourselves and our partners to make long-term plans," Kesselman said. "Many projects that use Globus software have five or even 10-year planning horizons. We can now engage with them in defining and developing the software technology needed to support 21st Century science and engineering."
Development of Globus software was first supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Department of Energy (DOE), and later also NSF, IBM, and Microsoft. DOE and (in Europe) the United Kingdom's Engineering and Sciences Research Council and Swedish Research Council continue to provide important support for Globus-related research and development.

In addition, the open source nature of the software allow a large international community of developers and users, in both research and industry, to contribute to its development.

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