AUniversity DGMA 2008 GRID ACCULTURATION Zaharin Yusoff (Prof. Dr.) President, Multimedia University Eureka Building, USM, Penang 21 st October 2008.

A University

DGMA 2008

GRID ACCULTURATION

Zaharin Yusoff (Prof. Dr.)President, Multimedia University

Eureka Building, USM, Penang21st October 2008

Grid Acculturation

Where to begin?

• Parallel computing

• Supercomputing

• …..

• Utility computing

• Cloud computing (inc. Virtualisation)

• …….

• Distributed computing

• High-performance computing

• ….

• Grid computing

Grid Acculturation – where to begin?

We all know that the term “Cloud Computing” is relatively new to the Technology buzz. But just how new is it? For starters, I ran a quick comparison of “Cloud Computing,” “Grid Computing” and “Utility Computing”.

The term Grid Computing has been around for a while (even before Google Trends tracking shows it). But as you can see from the graphic above, it is trending downwards. Utility Computing has pretty much remained below the radar in comparison. But, the newcomer Cloud Computing, which made its full entrance into this trend analysis around 2007 is rapidly gaining momentum. 2008 seems to be a pivotal time where it surpassed Grid Computing (and continues to grow).

http://linux.sys-con.com/node/587717.... By: Michael Seehan Jul. 25, 2008 10:15 AM

…. In the final analysis, there's no question that Cloud Computing, Grid Computing, Utility Computing or whatever else you'd like to call it, is definitely the wave of the future for many applications and usage models.  Granted, the average power user or enthusiast will likely still have a powerful desktop or notebook system for many years to come….

http://hothardware.com/News/Cloud_Computing_The_Future_Takes_Nebulous_Shape/ Monday, June 30, 2008 – by Dave Altavilla

Grid Acculturation – where to begin?

“The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do. I can’t think of anything that isn’t cloud computing with all of these announcements. The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women’s fashion. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop? …”

http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/09/25/larry-ellisons-brilliant-anti-cloud-computing-rant/ September 25, 2008, 7:53 pm – Larry Ellison’s Brilliant Anti-Cloud Computing Rant

Table of Contents

Introduction• Generalities (… naive…)• At the School of Computer Sciences, USM

Some Attempts at National Initiatives• Centre for Computational Sciences• 8th Malaysia Plan – 20012005• 9th Malaysia Plan – 20062010

Some Pertinent Questions• Some Input & Questions • Grid Acculturation

Introduction

Generalities

Some Terminologieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_computing

‘Distributed’ or ‘grid’ computing in general is a special type of parallel computing which relies on complete computers (with onboard CPU, storage, power supply, network interface, etc.) connected to a network (private, public or the Internet) by a conventional network interface, such as ethernet. This is in contrast to the traditional notion of a supercomputer, which has many processors connected by a local high-speed computerbus …

What distinguishes grid computing from typical cluster computing systems is that grids tend to be more loosely coupled, heterogeneous, and geographically dispersed. Also, while a computing grid may be dedicated to a specialized application, it is often constructed with the aid of general purpose grid software libraries and middleware.

Grid Computing – Historical Perspective

The term Grid Computing originated in the early 1990s as a metaphor for making computer power as easy to access as an electric power grid in Ian Foster and Carl Kesselmans seminal work, "The Grid: Blueprint for a new computing infrastructure".

In Malaysia, grid computing also evolved from parallel computing and distributed computing in the early nineties. Along with these came application domains that need high performance computing, such as computational sciences (e.g. crystallography) and bioinformatics …

GRID COMPUTING

Using the resources of many computers in a network at the same time, to solve a single problem (http://www.netnw.net.uk/Jargon_Explained/jargon.htm)

…. is a form of distributed computing whereby a

"super and virtual computer" is composed of a cluster

of networked, loosely-coupled computers, acting in

concert to perform very large tasks.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_computing

The technology has been applied to computationally-intensive scientific, mathematical, and academic problems through volunteer computing, and it is used in commercial enterprises for such diverse applications as drug discovery, economic forecasting, seismic analysis, and back-office data processing in support of e-commerce and web-services.

At the School of Computer Sciences, USM

School of Computer Sciences, USM

1993: Parallel & Distributed Processing Research Group

Parallel Computing (1992 1994)•Parallel constructs,•Parallelisation of sequential programs

Distributed Computing (1993 1996)•Distributed databases•Distributed processing

Grid Computing (1997 ..)•Parallel numerical algorithms for message-passing architectures•Cost Effective High Performance PC Cluster with Virtual Shared Memory•Meta-computing Environment for Computational Sciences•e-Science Grid (back-end engine and grid infrastructure)•Knowledge Grid•Seeding Bioinformatics•….

1980s (UM, UKM, UTM, USM, …)Parallel computingComputational Science……

R&D&(C) Workshop 28-30July 2003R&D&(C) Workshop 28-30July 2003

Distributed shared Memory (replication

& consistency) - RKS & MAO

Resource Allocation- CHY, FH & GCS

Grid Intrusion & Detection System

- AS

Fast Cryptography Protocols - AS

Resource Monitoring- CHY, FH & GCS

Parallelization, Dependency, Aliases

- RKS, GCS

Parallel Iterative &direct solvers- RKS, NMA

Fault Tolerance (algorithm level & grid level - RA, CHY

Parallelising Access to LargeDatabases (matching, indexingand clustering) – NAR, RA, ZZ

04/10/2304/10/23 R&D&(C) Workshop 28-30July 2003R&D&(C) Workshop 28-30July 2003 1414

E-Science Grid FrameworkE-Science Grid Framework

Job Manager

Scheduler Specific plug-in

Resource Usage

Tracking Agent

Account Manager

Bill Mobile Agent

e-Science Portal

Replica CatalogReplica

Management Service File

Transfer

Applications

Resources

Intrusion Detection Service

Directory Service

User

Directory Service

Overall Architecture Overall Architecture

Mobile Agents Facility

Resources

e-Sciences Grid Portal (Dynamic Information Services)

Processed Data

User

Visualization

Resource MonitorEvent Publication

Information

Dispatch Agent

Invitation/Correction

Iterative Solver Agent

Resource Allocation

Access

Authorized

Resource Monitoring)

Event Publication Information

Platform Type,

Operating System,

CPU, Memory,

Network, File System, Job

Status

Prediction

…… Knowledge GridKnowledge Grid

Current Scenario at USM

Math Tsunami Modelling Group

CEDEC

School of Computer Sciences, USM

Aurora

OTHER RESEARCH IN USM

School of Computer

Sciences, USM

stealth

Geographical Information System at School of Humanities

CEDEC

Digital Content at School of Arts

MBBS CLUSTER

Some Attempts at National Initiatives

Proposal for a National Centre for Computational Sciences

National Centre for Computational Sciences

Inter-university & interdisciplinary Collaboration

• About 80 researchers (UM, USM, UKM, UTM, …..)• Computer Science, Chemistry, Biology, …• ….

Ministry of Science• KSU• Science Advisor• ….

2000: …. Quality Hotel

8th Malaysia Plan (ICT Sector) – 20012005

SERVICES SERVICES SERVICES

INFRASTRUCTURE

RM8 – LAYERS

KB KBKBKB

PROCESSORSPROCESSORS PROCESSORS PROCESSORS

DELIVERY

SETSERVICES

RM8 – SERVICES (inc. Processors & KBs)

ESTABLISHMENTOFSERVICES

ENHANCEMENT OF MSC FLAGSHIP APPLICATIONS

SCIENCE, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY (SET)

SERVICES

SERVICE STANDARDS & PROTOCOLS

E-BUSINESS SMARTEDUCATION

•Business Engineering

•Enablers for E-Business

•Sophisticated Processors

•Socio-Economic Studies

•HCI Tools for E-Business

•Wellness Maintenance•Healthcare Practitioner

Portal•Healthcare Enterprise

Modelling

E-HEALTHCARE •Architecture & Software Infrastructure

•System Software & Tools

•Applications

•Knowledge & Data Acquisition

•Computer-Assisted Education & Training

•Teaching-Learning Materials

•Business Process Engineering

•Personalised Information on Education

•Networking of Educators•Student-Educator Consultation•Personalised Lifetime Education Plan•Online Education and Open Learning

9th Malaysia Plan (Grid Computing) – 20062010

Grid Computing Domains

GRID SECURITY•Component security•Data security•….

APPLICATIONS•Compute-Intensive

•Data Intensive•On-Demand•Collaborative

•…

RESOURCE MONITORING•Detecting faults•Managing faults•….

SERVICE MANAGEMENT•Managing Users & Applications•Managing lower level technical components•Utility grid management modules•….

TOOLS & ENABLERS•Tools for specific applications•Tools for grid construction•Data warehousing•Grid Algorithms•Mobile Agents & Software agents•Grid Protocols •…

RESOURCE ALLOCATION•Service Aggregation •Resource Aggregation•Scheduler (load balancing)•…

GRID INFRASTRUCTURE (incl. Networks)

GRID INFOSTRUCTURE

GRID DATA WAREHOUSE•Grid Database•Data Replication•….

Middleware Engineering(e.g. aggregator)

Knowledge Grid(e.g. e-Science)

National Grid Utilities(c.f. TNB, Jaring/TMNet )

….. Knowledge Dissemination

Support

……

SET Services compute intensive(bioinformatics, pharmaceuticals, …)

Industry data intensive(financial, administrative, …)

Grid

Resources Human

Data

MolecularDatabase

Health CareInformation

etc

Data Source

ComputationalResources

Software

Hardwaree.g. High

Performance Cluster and etc.

Users

☺Scientists

☺Engineers

☺Researchers

Grid Computing Architecture

MIMOS

Satellite

Center

others

Commercialisationor

Service to Public

IndividualUser

Company Government

UM

Satellite

Center

UKM

Satellite

Center

USM

Satellite

Center

UPM

Satellite

Center

UTM

Satellite

Center

Main Centerfor Grid ComputingResearch Cluster

A Cluster Centre is inevitable

Grid Computing Architecture

RESOURCE MONITORING•Fault Management/Tolerance – 2007 – 2008 •Discovery Protocol – 2008 - 2009•Grid Monitoring Kit – 2006 - 2007•Grid Sensor – 2005 – 2006

SERVICE MANAGEMENT•Tokens & Metering – 2008•Negotiator (Agent, AI, etc.) – 2008 – 2009 •Search & Optimization Data Set – 2007•Service Resource Discovery/Retrieval – 2007 – 2008•Service Resource Management – 2005 - 2006•Accounting/Billing/Service Level Agreement – 2005- 2006•Generic Gateway (Portal) – 2006 – 2007 •Grid Human Computer Interface – 2008 – 2009 •Policy Service Management – 2008 – 2009 •Provisioning (license management, etc) – 2008 – 2009

RESOURCE ALLOCATION•Resource Aggregation – 2006 – 2007 •Service Aggregation – 2007 - 2008•Scheduler, Meta-Scheduler, Load Balancer – 2006 - 2007•Resource Reservation – 2007 - 2008•Trader/Broker – 2007 - 2008

Grid Computing Projects Technology Development

GRID SECURITY•Intrusion & Prevention Detection – 2005 – 2006 •Fast Cryptography – 2006 - 2007•Data Security – 2006 - 2007•Identification & Authentication – 2005 -2006 •Authorisation & Policy – 2006 - 2007

GRID INFOSTRUCTURE•National Data Centres – 2005 •Grid Database – 2006 - 2007

Data Replication – 2006 – 2007 •Grid Storage – 2006 - 2007•Transaction Management – 2007 - 2008•Dist. Backup & Recovery – 2005 - 2006•Parallel Access to Databases – 2007 - 2008•Content-Based Info Retrieval – 2007 - 2008•Parallel Data Mining – 2008 - 2009•Knowledge Engineering – 2008 - 2009

GRID INFRASTRUCTURE (incl. Networks)•High Speed Grid (MYREN, IPv6) – 2005•Mobile/Wireless Grid – 2006 – 2007

TOOLS & ENABLERS•Distributed Shared Memory – 2006 – 2007 •Parallel Dependencies, Aliases – 2006 – 2007•Parallel Iterative &Direct Solvers – 2005 – 2006 •Mobile Agents & Software agents – 2006 – 2007 •Grid Protocols – 2009 – 2010 •Interconnection of Clusters – 2006 – 2007 •Algorithm Analysis – 2006 - 2007•Search Algorithms (Drug Design) – 2006 – 2007 •Grid S’ware Dev Lib (Numerical, Graphics) – 2006 - 2007•Connectivity/Comms (Master/Slave, P2P) – 2005 - 2006•Cluster Node Management – 2006 – 2007 •Grid Simulator – 2005 – 2006

Generic Grid Portal Middleware Engineering Toolkits

National Grid Utility SET / Industry Applications

2010

2006

2007

2008

2009

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

• Campus Grid

• National Grid

• Global Grid

• COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL

• DOMAIN SPECIFIC MULTI-ISSUE INTELLIGENT NEGOTIATOR.

• MULTI-PLATFORM ONTOLOGIES AND DESCRIPTOR

• INTELLIGENT COORDINATOR AND COLLABORATOR

• NON-DOMAIN SPECIFIC INTELLIGENT NEGOTIATOR

• GRID SERVICE TEMPLATE

• DOMAIN SPECIFIC NEGOTIATOR

• SERVICE BROWSER

• OPTIMIZED SERVICE MATCHER WITH CONTENT AWARENESS

• DATASET FILTER & OPTIMISER

• KNOWLEDGE FILTER

• GRID VISUALISATOR

• SERVICE MATCHER

• DOMAIN ADMINISTRATOR

• TOKEN MANAGER

• POLICY ENFORCER

• MULTI-CRITERIA SCHEDULER

• HETEROGENOUS MULTI -ALGORITHM SCHEDULER

• SCHEDULER WITH SINGLE DIMENSION PREDICTION

• SCHEDULER WITH MULTI-DIMENSION PREDICTION

• COLLABORATIVE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENT SCHEDULER

• ONE STEP AHEAD PREDICTOR

• MULTIPLE STEP AHEAD PREDICTOR

• SINGLE MACHINE‘SBEHAVIOR PREDICTOR

• AGGREGRATED MACHINE’S BEHAVIOR PREDICTOR

• SINGLE MACHINE USAGE CLASSIFIER

• MULTI-MACHINE USAGE CLASSIFIER

• CLUSTER MACHINE USAGE CLASSIFIER

• HETEROGENOUS MONITORING SYSTEM

• COMPUTATIONAL ECONOMY SCHEDULER

• COMPUTE POWER MARKET ii

• HOMOGENEOUS MONITORING SYSTEM

• HIGH THROUGHPUT SCHEDULER

• ADVANCE INTRUSION DETECTOR

• INTRUSION DETECTOR

• CRYPTOGRAPHY

• FAST CRYPTOGRAPHY

• HETEROGENOUS DISTRIBUTED DATABASE

• HIGH TRANSPARENCY DISTRIBUTED DATABASE

• ADVANCE DISTRIBUTED KNOWLEDGE BASE

• Bioinformatics Grid

• Financial Grid

• Knowledge Grid

Roadmap – Technology Development

TARGETS•Clustering•Campus Grid•National Grid•Global Grid•Grid Services Provider•National Grid Utility

Grid Computing Projects Applications Development

• Life Science Grid– Bioinformatics – Biotechnology – Medical Grid (e.g. Virtual Anatomy, Virtual Surgery)– Pharmaceuticals (e.g. Genetically Modified Gamat / Tongkat Ali) – Agriculture Grid– Environment

• Computational Science Grid– Physics (e.g. Nuclear Applications)– Biology– Chemistry (e.g. Liquid Crystals, Molecular Dynamics)– Mathematics (e.g. Modeling)

• Computational Engineering Grid– Volumetric Rendering

• Social Science Grid– Culture, Heritage & Civilisation Grid

• Commercial Grid– Financial (e.g. Forecasting, Banking)– Multimedia– Oil & Gas

• Education– E-Learning– Language

• Disaster Mitigation

Grid Computing Projects Capacity Development

Years Human Resources Development Years Policy & Governance Years Awareness & Market Creation Years Towards National Utility Grid

2005 Formation of Core Teams 2005-2006 Central Governance Body Type of Programmes 2005 National Agenda - Management Team a) Programme to Inculcate Culture of Sharing & Collaboration - Technical Team 2005-2006 Formulation of Policies b) Awareness Programme 2007 Help Desk - Marketing Team - Grid 2005 - seminar & Workshop (Twice a year) - Content Team - Users 2005 - Conference 2008 Inspectorate (License)

- Application 2005 - website2007 Developing Curriculum for Grid Computing - Security 2006 - Campaign/Roadshow 2007-2008 Grid Service Providers

- Operation2006 Developing Programmes for Post Graduate - Database Marketing 2008-2009 Application Service Providers

- Collaboration 2005 - Market Survey2006 Strategic distribution of projects (hands on) - IP 2006 - Market Research 2006-2007 Grid of Grids

- Funding 2006 - Market Creation Programme2006 Training/Certification - Metering/Billing 2006 - International Benchmarking 2007-2008 Computing Power Transmitting (metering)

- Capacity Building of Users- Training of Trainers 2006 Cluster Centre 2006 Industrial Participation 2009 National Grid

- Technology2006-2007 Competency Centre - Industry End Users 2010 MyGrid

- Service Providers2006 Advisory Panel 2010 International Grid

2007 International Collaboration

Priority Application (Inter Agenda)2006 - BioInformatics2006 - Agriculture2007 - BioMedical2007 - BioTechnology2007 - Modelling2007 - Culture & Heritage

Some Pertinent Questions

Some Input & Questions

Main Points

Grid computing is much more than the deployment of hardware and software resulting in a higher performing network. It also includes a culture of sharing, of content as well as computational resources

Another point to look at is whether or not we are asking the appropriate questions of the domain. The goals should not only be of the operational type (such as on efficiency and performance), but also of the functional type. Can there be:a universal grid operating system, a grid computing language, formal criteria for usability, and grid computing as a utility.

Such questions (or goals) would not only lead to the corresponding R&D aspirations but will also open up discussions on very pertinent issues that need to be resolved before any implementation.

There are a number of R&D areas and questions asked in grid computing:

1)Traditionally, many researchers conduct investigation on resource management, namely on the issues of scalability, heterogeneity, efficiency, availability and transparency.

For high availability and adaptability, IBM would term these as autonomic computing (for self-healing or for auto-configuration).

For transparency, the term cloud computing is used when viewing resources as services.

2)Grid is viewed as a body or brawn, while an agent is viewed as a brain. Researchers attempt to meet the brain with the brawn, and many are talking about multi-agent systems on the grid.

Some Input (1/2)

3) Grid computing can be viewed as a super virtual computer, and researchers explore further on virtualisation techniques such as VMware, Virtual Organisation Management, etc.

4) In terms of application domains:

Grid combines with pervasive computing to integrate sensor networks, mobile devices, etc.

Many grid researchers collaborate with application domain experts to jointly develop grid applications such as data grid, computational grid, medical grid, e-science grid, eco-grid, rendering farm, financial grid and etc.

Some Input (2/2)

SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS (1/2)

Some questions asked many years ago are still valid…:

1)There should be a universal grid 'Operating System' that makes the underlying infrastructure completely transparent – such an infrastructure should be heterogeneous in nature, in terms of hardware and OS, and independent of geographical and logical domains….. (c.f. Globus..)…

2)There should be a 'grid computing language' that rides on the said OS with all the appropriate data structures and programme constructs – such a language should be independent of the infrastructure beneath the OS, but its compiler/interpreter should be intelligent enough to take full advantage of the configurations available.

SOME PERTINENT QUESTIONS (2/2)

Some questions asked many years ago are still valid…:

….

3)There should be clear and formal measures/criteria to determine whether a given problem/application is best implemented in a grid environment or otherwise ... (c.f. coarse/fine grain size/ granularity, total cost of ownership, …. But why not something simpler? e.g. 3-phase power..)

4)Grid computing should be made a public utility (as in electricity, water, etc.) -- and with this should come the means for provision of its services, metering and payment like any other public utility.

Grid Acculturation

Attempts at National Initiatives

There have been many attempts at making grid computing a national initiative, where some failed while some succeeded to a certain extent but have arguably not met the original goals and intentions.

Perhaps one of the reasons for this limited success is the lack of understanding of the different roles of the players within and those related to the domain ….

Grid Acculturation

Grid Acculturation – Acculturate Who?

OVERALL• Speak the same language• Win-win-win situation

Researchers (& Students)• Fundamentals (incl. abstraction, …)• Synergy (related domains, critical mass, specialise, …)• Incrementality (core, processors, .. , applications, …)• Heterogeneity (multiple platforms, applications, …)• Educate (others & themselves … security, support, …)

Industry• Less confusion (tone down the hype, …)• Longer term perspectives (patience wins, ..)• Fundamentals (e.g. platform dependence kills, …)• Business model

Decision Makers (Government)• No Big Bang theory (need to make informed decisions, ..)• Technology is not cheap (but no need for Father Christmas, ..)• We do not have to be technology consumers

THANK YOU

MERCI

GRAZZIE

GRACIAS

SPASIBA

DANKE

MANGE TAK

NAN DHRI

TERIMA KASIH

ARIGATO

SHUKRIYA

XIE-XIE NI

KAMSIAH / MMKOI

JABAI INAU

NGGO BUTE KABU

KOP KUN KAH

Back-Up Slides

Computer Networks

NETWORK SECURITY•Intrusion Detection•Prevention Systems•Cryptography•….

APPLICATIONS•Multimedia Conferencing

•Distributed Systems (e.g. Digital Libraries)

•…

NETWORK MONITORING•Intelligent Network Monitoring•Fault Tolerance•Down-time Management•….

SERVICE MANAGEMENT•Tokens & Charging•Negotiator•….

TOOLS & ENABLERS•Network Operating Systems•Compression/Decompression•Streaming•..

COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT•Resource Aggregation•Services Aggregation•…

COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS•Wired Protocols (e.g. Fast Ethernet)•Wireless Protocols (e.g. Satellite)•Emerging Protocols (IPV6)•..

SECURITY

Physical Network

OS(incl. Drivers &

Registeries,H/W Interfaces)

Data

Applications

Enterprise

TRUST CONFIDENTIALITY ABUSE

• Rootkit• Trojan Horse• OS Fingerprinting• Sniffing• Hijacking• Re-routing

• Appl. Forensics

• Appl. Audit• Appl. Pentest

•Digital Signature•Public key infrastructure•….

• Database security• Web-based Application

Security• SSL, SSH

• Biometrics• Smart Card• One time password

• Cryptography (inc. encryption, braid)• steganography• Parallelising crypto operations• Video/Image security

•Network security•Mobile IPv6 security•Tunneling•….

SPECIFIC APPLICATIONORIENTED•Secure game-play•e-Voting•…

•Authentication•Non-repudiation•Integrity•Tripwire

• Enterprise level security

• Agent-Server Security

• Radius/Kerberos• Honeypot/Honeynet

• Man-in-the-Middle (MIM)

• Dos/DDoS• Virus/Worm, Spam• Drone Armies

• IPSec• VPN• Firewall• Intrusion Prevention• Trusted OS

ANALYSIS

• Buffer Overflow• Format String• Client-side

(XST,XSS)• SQL Injection• Phising

• Forensics• Enterprise Audit• Enterprise

PenTest

• Data Forensics• Log/Alert Analysis• False Positive

Reduction

• OS Forensics• OS PenTest• Intrusion

Detection

• Packet Spoofing• Cryptanalysis• Brute Force• ISN Predictions• Cache Poisoning

PROTECTIOPROTECTIONN

Wet Lab Experimentation (DNA/Genome Sequencing)

BIOINFORMATICS

Amino Acids(V,S,W, .. – 20)

Proteins / Peptides

Protein/PeptideDatabase

Junk DNA / UNKNOWN GENES (NEW !!)

VirtualExperimentations

Protein-BasedApplications

DNA-BasedApplications

Dissemination

LITERATURE SEARCH•Meaning-based•Literature Manager•….

SEQUENCE ANALYSIS•Sequence search•Verification•Cleansing•‘Parsing•Classification•….

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS•Modelling•Visualisation•Matching•Comparisons•Simulation•Transformation/ Mutation•….

VirtualExperimentations

Junk / New !!Database

1&2D3DTRANSFn•….•….

Riding on

GRID

DNA / GenomeString of Nucleic Acids (A,T,C,G)

There is a lot of work on applications for the GRID -- medical, education, etc. Here in MMU, Dr. Ho Sin Ban and his ROs are looking into some of that.

Nithiapidary is looking into increasing the efficiency of programs that have many small-scale jobs by grouping them together.

Nathar Shah is beginning a study on how to make writing GRID programs less problematic by using Aspect-Oriented programming. There is also research at other universities into making GRID easier to set up -- making installers, security issues, how to promote participation and prevent cheating, etc.

Sin Ban, Nithia, and Nathar, do you have anything to add beyond what I wrote above?

Input from MMU