The Globus Consortium is comprised of global computing leaders who support the Globus Toolkit - the de facto standard for open source grid computing infrastructure - for use in enterprise data centers. Through the Globus Consortium, vendors of hardware, software and their customers can work together to accelerate use of the Globus Toolkit in the enterprise through education, communication and evangelization activities while speaking with one voice on emerging Grid standards.
The Globus Toolkit is the world's most widely-used set of services and software libraries to support Grids and Grid applications. The Toolkit is freely available in open source format on the Web with applications for security, information infrastructure, resource management, data management, communication, fault detection, portability and more. In many ways, the Globus Toolkit defines Grid computing.
Grid refers to an information technology infrastructure that enables the integrated, collaborative use of computers, networks, databases, and scientific instruments owned and managed by many different organizations in many different locations. Grid applications often involve large amounts of data and/or computing and often require secure resource sharing across organizational boundaries.
More and more enterprises are looking to Grid solutions to save money, share resources and use their computing resources more efficiently. As the technology of the Grid evolved from research organizations to the enterprise, IT vendors and enterprise IT managers looked for ways to incorporate the Globus Toolkit, the de facto standard for Grid computing, into their corporate environments and product offerings. Through the Globus Consortium, IT vendors and end-users can efficiently work with the open source Globus Toolkit community and commercial developers to bring enterprise Grid requirements to realization.
The Globus Consortium was formed to advance the open source Globus Toolkit through promotion, support, research, education and the embrace of open standards for Grid.
Founding members of the Globus Consortium included HP, IBM, Intel and Sun Microsystems. The original authors of the Globus Toolkit, including Ian Foster, Steve Tuecke, helped to found the Globus Consortium and, as board members, help guide the technology roadmap for Globus.
(i) Education: The Globus Consortium is committed to the development of Tutorials and training materials to help foster the adoption of the Globus Toolkit and provide a point of entry for new users of the Globus Toolkit. The Globus Consortium may also produce and present training sessions for various components of the Toolkit; (ii) Communication: The Globus Consortium will engage in Public Relations outreach efforts including the production of a monthly news digest, The Globus Consortium Journal. The Globus Consortium journal will feature articles and interviews from members and non-members regarding components of the Globus Toolkit, Grid implementations, and other information in line with the Consortium's goals promoting Globus Toolkit use and adoption. In addition, the Globus Consortium will produce a blog, the Grid Meter that will feature comments and perspective on news and events within the Globus and Grid communities.
The Globus Consortium will work with the governing bodies that drive the development efforts of the open source Globus Toolkit including the Globus Management Committee and individual Globus Toolkit Project Chairs. The goal of this interaction will be to foster an information exchange between these governing bodies and the Globus Consortium to help better define actual Toolkit adoption metrics and to communicate enterprise member concerns and suggestions back. In addition the Consortium will work with other organizations and standards bodies to help develop a common ground with those organizations and illustrate how the Globus Toolkit can be the basis for that common ground; (iii) Evangelization: The Globus Consortium will actively seek and promote, through publicity and documentation, Globus Toolkit success stories. These efforts will be undertaken with the goal of illustrating the value of Grid and the Globus Toolkit in enterprise. The Globus Consortium will participate in focused trade shows and other community events to maintain a presence in the Grid community.
Although not the primary goal, The Globus Consortium may develop feature enhancements to the Globus Toolkit and to provide testing and verification for these enhancements. This work may be done either internally or in cooperation with third-parties, including member companies. The Globus Consortium intends is to take these improvements back to the open source Globus Toolkit community and to be made freely available to everyone under an open source license.
The Globus Consortium is organized as a not for profit membership corporation under the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the "DGCL").
The Globus Consortium has one class of membership: sponsor member. Members participate in a board of directors to define the direction and activities of the Consortium. Officers are appointed by the board. Management of the Globus Consortium is led by a board-appointed president.
The principal office for the Globus Consortium is in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, in the western suburbs of Chicago.
The Consortium is not a standards-setting body. Rather, the Consortium will work with recognized standards organizations approved by the Board.
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