BalticGrid-II

Grid computing is one of the way of distributed computing when tasks are shared over multiple computers. Tasks can range from data storage to complex calculations and can be spread over large geographical distances. Distributed computing resources are joined together to create a virtual supercomputer. Networked computers can work on the same problems, traditionally reserved for supercomputers. The idea of grid computing originated with Ian Foster, Carl Kesselman and Steve Tuecke  in the middle of 1990s.

Laboratory of Parallel Computing of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University has started their activity in grid computing at 2004 when first testbed grid based on ARC middleware was installed together with colleagues from Vilnius University and Kaunas University of Technology. Shortly after that gLite cluster was built and connected to Litgrid and BalticGrid infrastructure. Lab activity focuses on developing visualization tools for grid computing, gridification of different applications and user support. Lab participates in several grid related projects: FP7 project BalticGrid-II (2008-2010), Litgrid (2006-2009) and GridTechno (2007-2009) projects.

Balticgrid II project overview

The BalticGrid Second Phase (BalticGrid-II) project has started on 1 May 2008. It is designed to increase the impact, adoption and reach, and to further improve the support of services and users of the recently created e-Infrastructure in the Baltic States.

The consortium is composed of 13 leading institutions in seven Europeanian countries, with 7 institutions in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, 2 in Belarus, 2 in Poland, and one each in Sweden and Switzerland.

The e-Infrastructure, based on the successful BalticGrid project, is fully interoperable with the pan-European e-Infrastructures established by EGEE, EGEE associated projects, and the EGI, with the goal of a sustained e-Infrastructure in the Baltic Region.

The e-Infrastructure of 26 clusters built in five countries during the first phase of the BalticGrid is envisaged to grow, both in capacity and capability of its computing resources

BalticGrid-II identifying and addressing the specific needs of new scientific communities such as nano-science and engineering sciences; and by establishing new Grid services for linguistic research, Baltic Sea environmental research, data mining tools for communication modelling and bioinformatics. The overall vision is to support and stimulate scientists and services used in the Baltic region to conveniently access critical networked resources both within Europe and beyond, and thereby enable the formation of effective research collaborations.

More information can be found in BalticGrid II web site.