Systems/Enterprise:

ENTERPRISE GRID COMES TO EMEA WITH EGA COMMITTEE

At GGF12, the Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA), a consortium formed to standardize enterprise Grid solutions, announced the formation of its Europe, Middle East and Africa Regional Steering Committee (E-RSC) to promote Grid adoption in the region. With European organizations at the forefront of deploying Grid infrastructures, the E-RSC is particularly important in furthering Grid use within public and private sector enterprises.

European IT customers are leaders in the adoption of commercial Grids, which allow enterprises to quickly and easily build large-scale computing infrastructures using existing data center resources combined with off-the-shelf hardware, networking and storage components. According to Evans Data Corp, more than one in three companies are now in process or planning a Grid computing implementation.

"The committee was established to better understand the regional trends and specific vertical application areas where commercial Grid technologies will play a leading role," said Bernd Kosch, chair of E-RSC and vice president alliances and partnerships at Fujitsu Siemens Computers. "EMEA has a diversified and heterogeneous public sector structure that will significantly impact the development and proliferation of Grid computing."

Through a highly coordinated effort among leading IT vendors spanning various industries and global markets, the EGA is focused on making it easier for end-user organizations to tap into the power of commercial Grids. With the launch of regional activity in EMEA, the E-RSC will liaise with other local Grid associations, support EGA membership recruitment and retention, as well as promote objectives, activities and standards adoption. Following the successful launch of regional activity in Japan, the E-RSC is further extending the EGA's footprint to speed the global adoption of Grid standards.

"The launch of the EMEA Regional Steering Committee furthers our goal and commitment to increase the awareness and adoption of Grid computing across the globe," said Donald Deutsch, president of the Enterprise Grid Alliance and vice president of standards strategy and architecture at Oracle Corp. "EMEA is an important and influential region with significant experience and interest in the enterprise Grid computing. EGA is confident that the E-RSC will positively contribute to our efforts to accelerate the adoption of Grid technology in public and private sector enterprises within EMEA and throughout the world."

The committee will be run by EGA sponsor members that have a special interest in supporting EGA activities throughout EMEA including EMC, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Hewlett-Packard, Network Appliance, Oracle, Paremus and Sun Microsystems. The E-RSC will work closely with the EGA technical and marketing steering committees and will report directly to the EGA Board of Directors.

"I am excited that the Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA) is launching its European Regional Steering Committee while participating in our GGF12 event in Brussels," said Mark Linesch, chairman of the Global Grid Forum. "Enterprise requirements are a key focus for the GGF community and critical to the further development of our flagship OGSA architecture. Together, we share an interest in accelerating efforts toward standardization and pervasive industry adoption of Grid solutions within the enterprise."

About Enterprise Grid Alliance

The Enterprise Grid Alliance is an open consortium focused on developing and promoting enterprise Grid solutions. Membership is open to all organizations via multiple participation tiers. For more information, please visit www.Gridalliance.org.