Grid Computing and Documents Contributed by ECAR

This case study depicts the formation, characteristics, and organizational success factors of Georgetown University's Advanced Research Computing (ARC) division. In collaboration with university researchers, ARC provides a range of services from computational support to multi-layered, multi-institutional support for research. A companion to ECAR's 2006 research study, IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study, this case study describes how Georgetown created a unique, collaborative, shared-cost IT division specifically for university researchers that now provides a secure environment for computational equipment and increases Georgetown's grant and fundraising competitiveness.

This research bulletin provides policymakers with an introduction to the evolving national cyberinfrastructure, discusses the role that new networking and enabling technologies play in integrating institutional research capabilities, and describes the impact these technologies may have on today's higher education research and on campus IT planning.

Presentation at the November 2004 ECAR Symposium. In the past 20 years, we have seen the establishment of the global Internet and the Web. We are now seeing the emergence of universal grid infrastructure, providing researchers from many disciplines interactive visual access to remote scientific instruments and enormous distributed data archives. Smarr believes this will induce another transition in campus infrastructure, perhaps on a larger scale than previously, due to the creation of optical networking "clear channels" or "lambdas" across the campus, state, nation, and globe whose entire bandwidth can be dedicated to a single campus researcher. In the United States, the backbone is the recently live National LambdaRail, which is linked to the international Global Lambda Integrated Facility. Smarr discusses examples of applications that require "personal lambdas" and reviews some of the research on how to couple these enormous data pipes across campuses to link into the clusters of individual laboratories.

Bioinformatics applies principles of information sciences and technologies to complex life sciences data. Life sciences research and education are increasingly dependent on bioinformatics and advanced information technologies in order to support their experimental approaches. This research bulletin provides an overview of the opportunities, challenges, and strategies for information technology organizations to optimally facilitate bioinformatics research and broader life sciences development efforts in higher education.

Research is fundamental to colleges and universities. The next generation of IT infrastructure for research includes grid computing and cyberinfrastructure. Leading-edge scientists are reconceptualizing the research infrastructure that will allow them to push the frontiers of knowledge and tackle more complex problems, such as the human genome, brain science, and high-energy physics. This Research Bulletin describes grid computing and details the issues institutions must address to capitalize on its promise.