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Contact usEuropean Grid Initiative Design Study (EGI_DS)
The European Grid Initiative Design Study (EGI_DS) is an EU 7FP "e-Infrastructure - Capacity Programme" co-funded project. It represents an effort to establish a sustainable grid infrastructure in Europe. The main foundations of EGI are the National Grid Initiatives (NGI), which operate the grid infrastructures in each country. EGI_DS, involving 9 principal partners, started on September 2007, and will last for 24 months.
The goal of EGI_DS is to evaluate use cases for the applicability of a coordinated effort, to identify processes and mechanisms for establishing EGI, to define the structure of a corresponding body, and ultimately to initiate the construction of the EGI organization. The EGI organization will ensure that Europe capitalises fully on its large investment in grid infrastructures, middleware development and applications. Under these lines, major objectives of the future EGI are:
- Ensure the long-term sustainability of the European e-infrastructure;
- Coordinate the integration and interaction between National Grid Infrastructures;
- Operate the European level of the production grid infrastructure for a wide range of scientific disciplines to link National Grid Infrastructures;
- Provide global services and support that complement and/or coordinate national services (Authentication, VO-support, security, etc.);
- Coordinate middleware development and standardisation to enhance the infrastructure by soliciting targeted developments from leading EU and National Grid middleware development projects;
- Link the European infrastructure with similar infrastructures elsewhere;
- Promote grid interface standards based on practical experience gained from grid operations and middleware integration activities, in consultation with relevant standards organizations.
EGI_DS is working closely with EGEE-III to learn from its experience in operating large scale international grid infrastructures. EGI_DS is relevant for D4Science, to clarify and facilitate the D4Science sustainability plans for its infrastructure and software. EGI_DS has recently prepared a blueprint for the future EGI organization (EGI.org). D4Science partners are following the evolution of this blueprint and also indirectly contributing to it.
Information about the D4Science project has been included in the EGI knowledge base under the main European e-Infrastructure projects. D4Science partners have attended the first EGI_DS workshop held in Geneva, on 20 June 2008. This workshop concentrated on defining the structure of the EGI organization; the draft blueprint was discussed there. D4Science members established first contacts with EGI_DS activity leaders and discussed plans for the operation of the D4Science sites and software in relation to EGI. D4Science members have also taken active role in the EGI_DS workshop that took place in Istanbul in September 2008. This workshop concentrated on planning the transition to the future EGI model (EGI.org and NGIs). The objective of the workshop was primarily to harmonise the effort within EGEE-III with the findings of the EGI Design Study and the policies endorsed by the National Grid Initiatives towards a sustainable European grid infrastructure. D4Science was invited to present its view on the transition to EGI in a panel with other major e-Infrastructure projects and large communities.
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