Grid computing delivers major benefits in the private and public sectors, such as improving  IT performance, reducing costs and speeding up the time to market for new products and services. Organizations that already adopt grids are seen to be at the front of the wave, driving innovation by analyzing the benefits and overcoming the challenges through training and support services.

Organized by the EGEE Business Forum, the Grid Solutions Track is designed to illustrate how IT strategists from a broad spectrum of businesses and public administration can gain greater advantage through the adoption of grid computing with insight from developers and experts from the grid arena.

The Value of Grids for Business and Public Administration

Technology developers will provide a snapshot of adoption benefits, explaining the different options available through current marketing offers, use cases and opportunities for engagement. The only session of presentations, the opening plenary serves to set the scene for an interactive day allowing participants to interact directly with speakers and private enterprises participating in the event. Presentations will cover topics such as:

1a- EGEE and gLite – An opportunity for Business

EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE) is the world's largest multi-disciplinary Grid infrastructure bringing together more than 120 organisations to produce a reliable and scalable computing resource available to the European and global research community. At present, it consists of 260 sites in nearly 50 countries and more than 114,000 CPU cores available to some 16,000 users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This talk will outline how EGEE is assisting businesses, new and old, to capitalise on EGEE's Open Source Grid Technologies, demonstrating the major value delivered by Grid through improving business performance and enabling companies to do new things.

1b- You’re not alone – Training Available

As a newly appointed EGEE Business Associate, Linalis, an Open Source consulting, services and training company provides training to companies and individuals looking to leverage the power of the Grid using gLite in their business. The training programme is currently focused on end users and consultancy can be provided for systems integration and ongoing support. This presentation will provide details on the current courses available as well as the plans to develop a full training and certification programme.

1c- Constellation Technologies – the “SuperCloud” on the Net

Constellation, a spin-out company from Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), is providing higher level added value services to companies allowing them to access the power of the Cloud on the net (the “SuperCloud”), which is available to all commercial sectors. The SuperCloud infrastructure is a global open commercial marketplace for IT services and allows users to access different resource providers to provide higher service level for wide user community. It also provides a global marketplace for various service providers (media, finance, engineering).

1d- Maat-g – Grid as a Service

With the objective of turning this Grid revolution into concrete ICT evolution, Maat Gknowledge, a leading Grid Business Services Provider and Consultancy, has capitalised on expertise and intellectual property, allowing it to replicate the concept of Grid as a Service to different sectors ranging from e-Government/e-Administration, to Core Banking, Education, Renewable Energy and ERP systems. Maat Gknowledge is looking to transfer and optimize the use of new cutting edge ICT, formerly designed for high energy physics, such as the EGEE Grid.

1e- Grid Business in an Open Source World

The presentation discusses how the development of new computing techniques, such as Grid Computing, and derived business models, can benefit from the Open Source eco system. It also introduces the Geneva library of distributed optimization algorithms as an example of designing a business model around both Open Source and distributed computing. Part of the discussion will cover both the constraints AND the supporting factors of this environment, as encountered by the author.

Interactive Roundtable Discussion

After the morning presentations and a quick coffee, the programme moves into interactive discussions in a roundtable format that will offer the floor to the audience with the aim of bringing into sharper focus the specific IT opportunities Grid offers as well as the chance for participants to ask questions and engage directly with the speakers and other private enterprises. This session will prove essential in shaping the overall concept and specifically defining what advantages there are to Grid adoption and exactly how.

Networking Lunch

A networking lunch offers the opportunity for participants to have more focused discussions on a more one-to-one basis or smaller group setting providing increased networking opportunities enabling attendants to pose specific questions to the experts in attendance and potentially make plans for further interaction and/or business development.

Inside look at what Grid means

Any concept is good in theory, but being able to get an inside look at any new technology is the key to understanding its true value. This session will not only cover the security aspects offering an overview at "How to store and manage data confidentially in an Open Grid scenario", but also covering the current Grid philosophy and why developers are working on this. In addition, the session will run through a demo demonstrating how to run a job to get a better understanding of how Grid computing works. A more hands on approach will be offered to any interested part following the session.

Feedback, Wrap-Up and Next Steps

After a coffee break, participants from both the morning session and afternoon session can provide feedback to the day, allowing companies and the project to gather specific requirements, outline next steps and provide a final conclusion and recommendations to the day.

Take-aways

Participants attending the Track will benefit from:

• Straightforward, no-nonsense explanations of Grid computing.
• A profile of technology developers to foster interaction during and after the event.
• Expert insight into benefits across a spectrum of sectors demonstrated through a portfolio of use cases.
• An understanding of the challenges and opportunities for Grid adoption in their organization.
• Inside look at how the Grid works.
• Focused discussions on specific requirements.
• Networking and peer-to-peer interaction.

Click here for the detailed “Grid Solutions” Programme Agenda