Grid Computing Seminar Introduced MetaCentrum Project

The academic association CESNET organized a grid computing seminar in Brno on 12 November, dedicated to the Czech national grid infrastructure MetaCentrum. Participants were informed of the MetaCentrum project, in particular of the new implementations of new services. The main objective of the meeting was to inform potential users of high performance operations about current possibilities available for solution of a wide range of research problems and challenges at both a national and international level. The seminar was organized by the MetaCentrum project in cooperation with the SGI company, which arranged participation of SGI director Eng Lim Goh, whose introductory lecture remarkably contributed to the success of the event.

MetaCentrum is one of the key long-term research activities of the CESNET association. The project is responsible for operation and further development of distributed computer and data storage environment within the Czech Republic, and for connection with similar foreign systems. The Grid, which is the usual name for such a system, represents one of the basic infrastructures of globally perceived research and development that enables intensive cooperation of geographically scattered research teams. The main objective of MetaCentrum activity is to build a basic digital infrastructure, i.e. distributed computer and data storage environment, development of respective services and support of applications. A related activity is research in the fields necessary to achieve these objectives.

MetaCentrum activity is currently focusing on consistent virtualization of the distributed grid environment. Attention is paid namely to the support of interactive work and the related gradual increase of services of the offered infrastructure to be directly influenced by the end user. MetaCentrum offers its users the possibility of various images of virtual engines that best suit their needs. Virtualized interactive environment enables better integration of the users' computer equipment. Experts involved in MetaCentrum activity therefore deal with the creation of and access to relevant images of virtual computers and research in the field of planning in such a virtualized environment, with an emphasis on the support of interactive utilization of the infrastructure.

CESNET association was founded by universities and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The association is currently financed mainly from the resources of the governmental Research and Development Board and funds of the association members. The association performs the research and development of information and communication technologies and building and developing the national gigabit optical network CESNET2, designed for research and educational purposes. With its research activities and accomplishments, the CESNET association can represent the Czech Republic in the pan-European GÉANT project as well as other international projects.