Special Section: GGF12 In Review:

GGF12: THE LINESCH REIGN BEGINS
By J.S. Hurley, Editor-at-Large

The Global Grid Forum (GGF12) conference was held Sept. 20-23 in Brussels, Belgium, against the backdrop of historic architectures such as the "Grote Markt" and beautiful landscape. The conference provided views on a number of noted transitions, including the passing of the leadership torch from Charlie Catlett, of Argonne National Laboratory, to Mark Linesch, of HP. In addition, it marked the announcement of a formal engagement between the GGF and the Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA). Catlett was acknowledged for his outstanding leadership and tireless efforts as GGF's first chair. Walter Stewart, SGI, opened the conference with greetings and was followed by Rich Stevens, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), who stepped in to note some of the major accomplishments attributed to Charlie's efforts and resilience. We firmly believe that Stevens and ANL should also be given significant credit for their strong support of Catlett and the participation of other ANL personnel in many of the GGF's activities and endeavors. Next, Linesch was introduced and proceeded to lay the framework for his vision and goals for GGF for the next five years.

The opening Keynote address was provided by Manuel Pietsch, head of Informatics & Knowledge Management for Norvartis, Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), who noted a number of the "state-of-the-art" research issues in the pharmaceutical industry and Novartis' proposed roadmap to incorporate Grid technologies in addressing many of them. A session was coordinated by Linesch and Bernd Kosch, Fujitsu-Siemens (representing EGA), with the purpose of formally announcing the pursuit of common ground between GGF and EGA with the expressed intent of leveraging resources deemed mutually beneficial. Of note was the reaction to the way that the enterprise was defined, i.e., data center-specific with the expressed omission of scientific computing, at least within the first phase. The issue was raised that this omission could prove to be a major concern and provide some ambivalence among many companies in which scientific computing is a critical component of their core business.

There was a very interesting buzz around the conference with regard to the future impact of GGF on the development and maturation of Grid standards, and its ability to continue as "the voice" of the Grid community. Linesch has brought a lot of energy as he embarks on his role as chair. Catlett was unable to make the meeting due to other commitments, and we extend our deepest appreciation to him for his efforts in driving GGF to this point and wish him success in his future pursuits. Linesch has hit the ground running and has expressed his serious intentions to be accessible to new ideas and opinions -- which thereby places the onus on the Grid community to help shape GGF's future direction. We wish him success as he takes over the reins and sets the course of the future direction of GGF. Stay tuned.