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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Applications:
CERN LAUNCHES FIRST PHASE OF GRID
FOR LARGE HADRON COLLIDER
The Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) has
launched the first phase of what could be the future of computing.
Cern's Grid, which links computing resources in different countries, is
designed to handle the huge amounts of data generated by the laboratory's
Large Hadron Collider.
Scientists working at the physics center realized that their new particle
accelerator, which should enter service in 2007, would produce data equivalent
to 20 million CDs.
Storing the results from the LHC, as it is also known, was just one part of
the equation. Analyzing the data also would be problematic, as it would
require the computer power of 70,000 of today's fastest PCs.
Rather than invest in new computing resources, Cern opted for a different
solution. Its Grid links computer centers around the globe, creating a kind of
virtual resource service.
A scientist will therefore be able to harness the power of a supercomputer
in
another country as though it were in the next room.
"The idea is that you have distributed resources that can be almost
anywhere,"
said Ian Bird, head of Grid deployment at Cern.
Access To Resources
"The Grid is, in essence, me sitting at my computer and getting access to
huge
resources that are just not available in one single place."
Cern is already famous throughout the computer universe as the birthplace
of
the World Wide Web, which gave a user-friendly face to the Internet. The Grid
is aimed at taking that thinking a step further.
"The Web was basically dealing with sharing information," Bird told
swissinfo.
"It gave people access to documents or databases, whereas the Grid gives me
access to resources."
Bird said the new system is analogous to the power grid. Users don't care
where electricity comes from, only whether it's available.
The first phase of the project involves running a series of prototype
services
whose size and complexity will increase over time.
The new system determines what resources are required for a specific job,
arranges for computer time anywhere around the world, and returns the results
to the researcher.
The Grid initially will link up computer centers in 16 countries. Data
analysis testing will begin in 2004 to see if the system is up to the
challenge of handling a complex workload.
The European Union is funding planned Grids for science and industry, and
companies have shown an interest in the new technology.
Future Applications
However, Bird says that nobody really knows what implications Grid
computing
actually will have in the future.
"When the Web came about, nobody foresaw the applications we see today," he
said. "It's very hard to predict where the Grid will go, but to provide people
with unheard-of computer resources just opens up the possibilities."
One of the hurdles faced by the Grid's designers is transferring huge
amounts
of information around the world, and making sure the network can handle the
workload.
That difficulty gradually is being overcome. In a recent groundbreaking
test,
Cern's scientists were able to transfer data equivalent to the contents of a
single DVD to California's Institute of Technology in just seven seconds.
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