Special Features:

EGA PRESIDENT SPEAKS ON STATE OF ALLIANCE
By Derrick Harris, Editor

Resistance is futile. Grid computing is coming to the enterprise sector.

Many vendors are pushing Grid solutions and helping early-adopter customers deploy commercial Grids. Trade shows like Gt'04 and the upcoming GGF12 meeting are focused on the role of Grid within the enterprise. Perhaps most importantly, though, is the formation of the Enterprise Grid Alliance in April. Membership of the consortium that is dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Grid in the commerical sector includes Oracle, Sun Microsystems, HP and NEC, to name a few.

Recently, GRIDtoday editor Derrick Harris was able to talk to EGA President Donald Deutsch, who also serves as vice president of Oracle, about a number of topics, including the current state of the EGA and what any collaboration with other standards organizations, such as the GGF, might look like.

GRIDtoday: To start with, I would like to know, Don, what does Grid mean to you?

DONALD DEUTSCH: Grid means connecting pools of computing resources so enterprises can leverage idle capacity to better utilize their investment in hardware and software. Enterprise Grid computing is Grid computing within and between enterprise data centers, behind the corporate firewall. EGA is focusing on commercial and technical applications, rather than scientific computing, academic research Grids or desktop Grids.

Gt: What was the motivation behind the formation of the EGA? Did a level of disappointment with GGF standards have anything to do with it?

DEUTSCH: The EGA was launched in April 2004 to accelerate the adoption of Grid computing in the enterprise. By creating interoperable Grid solutions, the EGA will help organizations use Grid technologies so that their IT resources can adapt to changing business needs. Grid technology promises enterprises increased computing power at substantially lower costs.

GGF's work is extremely valuable in the Grid community, especially in the scientific and academic arenas. EGA member companies have worked and are continuing to work within the GGF. We formed the EGA to focus on a subset of the larger Grid computing universe, Grid computing needs that are unique to the enterprise; EGA is about encouraging rapid Grid adoption within public and private sector enterprises.

Gt: What do you see as the primary role of the EGA, and how will this role evolve over the next few years?

DEUTSCH: For now, our focus is on implementing and improving Grid computing tools and standards at the enterprise level. Our work will impact vendors, end users and developers. We've outlined a three-phased approach with a 12-18 month timeline attached to each. Initially, we're focusing on Grid computing within a single enterprise legal entity. Subsequent phases will address Grid computing for technical, as well as commercial, applications between multiple enterprise legal entities. Ultimately, EGA will consider computing as a utility -- but even then with a focus on the needs of public and private sector enterprises.

Gt: What would you say are the top three goals of the EGA? Where are you in terms of meeting them?

DEUTSCH: We want to improve Grid computing tools and standards to address developer and user needs, as well as to foster understanding and adoption of enterprise Grid computing. Our five initial working groups are well underway. They are addressing some of the most critical inhibitors to widespread adoption of Grid computing in the enterprise that were identified by EGA participants.

Gt: What are the five current working groups?

DEUTSCH: The five initial EGA technical working groups are focused on addressing perceived obstacles to early Grid adoption. They include: Reference Model, Component Provisioning, Data Provisioning, Utility Accounting and Grid Security.

Now that these working groups are established and hard at work, we expect them to continue their momentum and start delivering solutions addressing EGA's goals and objectives. Over the next six months, the WGs will be creating first drafts of specifications and on developing reference models and proofs-of-concepts. In addition, EGA will deliver a Grid glossary, taxonomy and ontology to ease the confusion around enterprise Grid computing.

Gt: Does the EGA have any end-users as members? What is the EGA's value proposition to end-users?

DEUTSCH: As you know, recruiting end-users is always the most difficult task for consortia, but we are aggressively seeking their participation.

By participating in the EGA, end-users will have a first-hand role in identifying issues, defining requirements and developing solutions that make it easier for their businesses to build Grid environments faster with stronger, interoperable technology.

Gt: Some have questioned the absence of IBM and Microsoft from the EGA. What is your relationship like with those companies, and what do you think are the chances of either, or both, joining?

DEUTSCH: We are actively recruiting all providers and potential users of Grid technology to come help us in this effort. We have invited both IBM and Microsoft to come to the table and continue to encourage them to join. Both companies have a stake in Grid computing and should be involved in helping the community increase its adoption.

Gt: How do you think the EGA's membership demographics might change over the next several years? Do you think we can expect to see more end-users and academic/research institutions joining as enterprise Grids become more prevalent?

DEUTSCH: Currently, we have 22 members worldwide, including EMC, Fujitsu-Siemens, HP, Intel, NEC, Network Appliance, Sun, Oracle, Ascential, Optena and Paremus -- to name just a few. These companies are enterprise software, hardware and services companies that provide technical components essential to Grid computing.

Now that the alliance is public and activities are underway, we anticipate our membership will increase. In addition to more vendor companies, we plan to add end-user companies to balance the alliance and provide valuable inputs from the users perspective.

We already have one research group out of North Carolina, MCNC, as part of the alliance and do expect more. In addition, representatives from research activities within EGA member companies participate in technical WGs.

Gt: What do you see as the importance of working with other standards organizations and consortia, specifically the GGF?

DEUTSCH: The purpose of the EGA is to accelerate the adoption of Grid computing in the enterprise. Toward this objective, EGA is strongly biased to not invent here. If another group is better able to provide a necessary solution, we will work with them to speed up its availability. Only in the absence of other means, will the EGA develop its own solution.

One of the strategic benefits of the EGA is that most, if not all, of our board members actively participate in other standards bodies. There is a lot of cross-pollination. Through our members' involvement with other groups such as the GGF, EGA is well positioned to collaborate with these organizations.

Gt: What can the EGA contribute that the GGF cannot?

DEUTSCH: Developing and supporting the entire Grid community is important. We believe EGA and GGF are complementary and can collaborate well. Many EGA participants sponsor GGF and are active in committees there. These participants plan to continue their sponsorship and activity. While the GGF is casting a wider net on Grid computing as a whole, the EGA is focused solely on the enterprise.

Gt: Speaking of the GGF, do you know newly-appointed GGF chair Mark Linesch?

DEUTSCH: Mark and I have had productive preliminary discussions and are working together to define mechanisms for identifying synergies between EGA and GGF and to build a foundation for long-term cooperation. I look forward to working with him and the GGF in the future.

Gt: Finally, on a larger scale, when do you foresee Grid adoption becoming commonplace within the enterprise sector? Are there any commercial Grid deployments you would point to as stellar examples of what a Grid infrastructure can accomplish?

DEUTSCH: Many users are recognizing the importance of enterprise Grid computing. The EGA was formed to help provide the standards and solutions that will allow users to embrace and exploit the benefits of Grid technologies -- sooner rather than later. The market is moving. According to IDC, the Grid computing market will grow from $1 billion in 2003 to $12 billion in 2007.

Virtually all EGA participants have already deployed Grid within their organizations and/or have customers that have enterprise Grids today.