Speaker
Describe the added value of the Grid for the scientific/technical activity you (plan to) do on the Grid. This should include the scale of the activity and of the potential user community and the relevance for other scientific or business applications
ETICS is powered by Grid middleware, via the NMI/Condor. This is why ETICS can claim
that "We're using the Grid to build the Grid".
The Grid allows ETICS users to transparently build and test complex software on a
wide range of architecture, operating system and environments, in turn accelerating
the ability for software to properly execute in heterogeneous environment like Grids.
Describe the scientific/technical community and the scientific/technical activity using (planning to use) the EGEE infrastructure. A high-level description is needed (neither a detailed specialist report nor a list of references).
As ETICS is gaining momentum, its user community is growing. We now have over 15
projects (mainly Grid related) from different grid user communities; for example:
gLite developers and integrators, high-level services developers (e.g. GridWay and
DILIGENT).
This workshop will provide an opportunity for exchange between the growing ETICS user
community and ETICS developers.
Report on the experience (or the proposed activity). It would be very important to mention key services which are essential for the success of your activity on the EGEE infrastructure.
We are not yet able to run on the EGEE infrastructure, since we're missing an
important element: virtualisation. As soon as we are able to ship with a build and
test job a VM of the environment required for the job, we'll be able to exploit the
full power of the EGEE infrastructure. This is work in progress and an important
focus for ETICS work plan for 2007.
With a forward look to future evolution, discuss the issues you have encountered (or that you expect) in using the EGEE infrastructure. Wherever possible, point out the experience limitations (both in terms of existing services or missing functionality)
As mentioned above, virtualisation is an important enabler for ETICS's usage of a
public Grid such as EGEE. Software built and tested with ETICS require a highly
controlled environment in order to ensure build and test reproducibility over time.
This is why virtualisation is key for ETICS, such that it provides the required
controlled environment no matter what the state of the host computer is in, as long
as it can execute the VM.
