Prague Hosts a Meeting on Future European Grid Infrastructure Development

Tomorrow, Prague will host the EGI Policy Board Meeting – a forum of representatives of all countries involved in the European Union's EGI_DS (European Grid Initiative-Design Study) project. The project aims to define a long-term strategy for European grid infrastructure development and operation. The meeting is hosted by CESNET, an academic association representing the Czech Republic in the project and, at the same time, acting as its coordinator. The all-day meeting will take place in the Blue Auditorium of the Carolinum historical university campus.

The EGI Design Study is a strategic project expected to bring a new organizational model for a pan-European grid infrastructure, designed to facilitate cooperation among national grid activities. Presently, 38 national grid infrastructures are involved in the project. The entire EGI concept is based on the existence of National Grid Initiatives (NGI), which, similar to National Research and Education Networks (NREN), are supposed to be responsible for coordinating grids on the national level.

See more at http://web.eu-egi.eu/events/workshops-and-meetings/egi-policy-board-meeting-prague/

CESNET has long been involved in grid research. Among other activities, the association participates in EGEE III (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE), an international project aimed at developing a stable grid infrastructure in Europe with a major global impact. Within the EGEE III project, CESNET has been the most active institution in Central and Eastern Europe. It is one of few partners that participate in research activities, specifically in developing the Logging and Bookkeeping and Job Provenance middleware services. CESNET is also significantly involved in operating the grid as part of managing a Central European virtual organization. CESNET is responsible for the Grid Incident Response Team for Central Europe. CESNET is the only organization in Central Europe that has managed to obtain direct financial aid for its involvement in one of the project development activities.

For more information about EGEE please visit www.eu-egee.org.

Specific information about CESNET's involvement is available at egee.cesnet.cz.

The CESNET Association was founded by universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. It is currently financed mainly from resources of the governmental Research and Development Board and funds of the association members. The association is involved in the research and development of information and communication technologies, and builds and develops CESNET2, a national gigabit optical network designed for research and educational purposes. With its research activities and accomplishments, CESNET represents the Czech Republic in the GEANT2 pan-European network development project and actively participates in its implementation.