SEE-GRID

The gradual deployment of broadband networks throughout the research community and the fact that network capacity grows with much greater rate than CPU power and storage capacity (Moore's Law vs. storage improvements vs. optical improvements) have led to the creation of a distributing environment for sharing resources known as the Grid paradigm. This integrated networking & middleware environment is also called eInfrastructure. The technologies of the Grid-enabled eInfrastructure, which are being developed around the world, allow new methods of global collaborative research - often referred to as eScience. A large number of national and international initiatives were developed, making the "World Wide Grid" and its applications one of the major global research and development topics of this century. On the other hand the current infrastructure in South-East Europe (SEE) lacks the technology advancements and know-how needed to be part of and exploit the current trends in research and technology in the above fields.

SEE-GRID intends to provide specific support actions to pave the way towards the participation of the SE European countries to the Pan-European and worldwide Grid initiatives. This will be accomplished through dissemination conferences and training material including cookbooks, demonstration testbeds for hands-on experience, pilot applications' adaptations to be able to use the Grid, operational and support centre schemes and organisation, and finally feasibility studies and roadmaps for the integration of the SEE Grid area to the European Research Area (ERA). The proposed initiative will try to ease the digital divide, in the Grid context, and release the scientific & productive talents of the region, to support Pan-European Grid efforts using the infrastructure provided by the Gigabit Pan-European Research & Education Network (GEANT) and the South-East European Research and Education Networking (SEEREN) initiative. This will allow participation of the targeted countries in Pan-European Grid Efforts in the immediate future. SEE-GRID has the following objectives:

• Create a human network in the area of Grids, eScience and eInfrastructures in SEE.

• Extend support to Pan-European Grid efforts (e.g. GRIDSTART, DAMIEN, DATAGRID, EUROGRID, CROSSGRID, DATATAG, EGEE, etc) in the SEE region.

• Co-operate with GEANT, SEEREN initiatives and exploit their infrastructures and results in the region.

• Integrate selected Grid sites into a regional pilot testbed and demonstrate selected applications within the Pan-European Framework.

• Promote awareness in the region regarding Grid developments.

• Ease the digital divide and bring South-Eastern European Grid communities closer to the rest of the continent.

• Establish a dialogue at the level of policy developments for research and education and provide inputs to the agenda of national governments and funding bodies.

• Promote regional and international collaboration in the SEE area and with neighbouring countries;

In order to achieve these objectives, the close collaboration among the involved partners and the different communities is essential. This will assist the perception of the diverse requirements and the particularities of each country. In addition the project team has to provide software development and integration skills, as well as to monitor closely international standards and initiatives, thus setting and deploying middleware services and applications. The objectives further require training and outreach activities, which will promote the project results to the private and public sector, ultimately reaching the general public.