Grid-Ireland and Irish e-Research Strategy. A Review for KAREN and BeSTGRID - Anton Gerdelan

From BeSTGRID

Grid-Ireland and Irish e-Research Strategy. A Review for KAREN and BeSTGRID

This report covers a field trip to Grid-Ireland by Anton Gerdelan in May/June of 2008. During this time Anton studied with the Computer Architecture and Grid Research Group at Trinity College Dublin, attended workshops on eLearning, visited Grid developers at University College Cork, and interviewed e-Research and Grid experts around Ireland. Anton was asked by KAREN to focus on how Grid-Ireland encouraged Grid deployment in Ireland, and so much of this report covers e-Research strategy taken in Ireland and Grid-deployment and management mechanisms and organisational issues. Anton also reports on select e-Research and Grid-related projects that will be of interest to researchers in New Zealand as interesting examples of how e-Research, networking, and Grid resources can be utilised in New Zealand for similar works.

Full Article (6.75MB .pdf)

Abstract

Establishing a functioning computational Grid in New Zealand that both provides a useful service to researchers and scientists, and at the same time fully takes advantage of the great resource that is KAREN is proving to be a considerably difficult challenge. There are many organisational, technical and manpower challenges that must be addressed by BeSTGRID before it can emerge from its fledgling status and grow into a mature vehicle for facilitating a greater range of e-Research within New Zealand and an important player in large international scientific projects. This report presents a case-study of Grid-Ireland; an organisation that has grown from similar roots to BeSTGRID, and has overcome many of the challenges currently facing New Zealand’s e-Research community in an identical ICT climate to make a name for itself as a pioneer in the field and a key contributor to international Big Science. Indeed, much of the middleware technology model that we already make use of as part of the Grid in New Zealand, we have unwittingly inherited from innovations made by Grid-Ireland. E-Research in New Zealand can benefit greatly by keeping a close eye on the activities and progress of this role model on the other side of the globe.