A common misperception about the Globus Toolkit is that it is one technology with a set function. In fact, it is a collection of open source technologies built on open standards that support a wide range of functions.

Because the Globus Toolkit is open source -- there are always efforts underway to improve capabilities and explore new boundaries. So this month, we turn the spotlight on three of the core Globus Toolkit components that have great traction research and science Grid, and quite a bit to offer in the commercial realm as well.

In this issue, learn how the Globus implementation of the GridFTP protocol handles bulk file transfer and other core data access issues in Globus Toolkit Grid environments. Learn how Globus Toolkit users put the Grid Resource Allocation Manager (Globus GRAM) to use for handling the provisioning of underlying compute resources to support Grid applications (or "jobs," as Karl Czajkowski suggests we should we be thinking about them). And learn how the Globus Monitoring & Discovery System provides the necessary information about the available resources on the Grid and their status. These three core Globus Toolkit services are not only in heavy use in production Grid environments in e-Science, they have an enormous amount of commercial vendor support, and are in fact present in many vendors' Grid products and services.

This month, we also catch up with Platform's CEO, Songnian Zhou, whose company has been around since the very earliest days of the Grid industry, and whose Load Sharing Facility (LSF) has seen a tremendous amount of end user adoption not only in the usual early adopter sectors like financial and pharmaceutical -- but in more mainstream enterprise end user verticals such as automotive and manufacturing. Platform has taken some interesting twists and turns as a company over the last 15 years, and 2006 should be another good year to watch for the Toronto-based company, which partnered recently with Microsoft for LSF to offer some key functionality in the Windows Compute Cluster Server release in 2006.

And this month we also take a look at a review of "Grid Computing -- the Savvy Manager's Guide," a book that those tracking enterprise Grid's progress should definitely consider adding to the bookshelf this year.

And as always, the Globus Consortium editors invite you to contact us if you'd like to participate in any of our upcoming newsletters. Over the next five months, this is the subject matter we'll be focusing on with our participants:

• February: "Data Virtualization and Grid Computing Directions"
• March: "Securing the Grid"
• April: "The Linux/Grid Relationship"
• May: "Revisiting Grid Licensing Issues"
• June: "Network Intelligence Increasing the Grid's IQ"
• July: "Storage Networking Implications for the Grid"

Contact us anytime at: editors@globusconsortium.com

Happy New Year, and good luck with your Grid computing projects in 2006!

Greg Nawrocki
President, Globus Consortium

close window