Research Networking Projects

Research Networking Projects• GEANT - European backbone for research • EUMEDCONNECT: Connectivity to the Mediterranean region • CAESAR: Connecting All European and South American Researchers – • SERENATE: Study into European Research and Education Networking as Targeted
by eEurope
IPv6 • LONG: Laboratories over Next Generation Networks • 6WINIT: IPv6 Wireless Internet Initiative • 6NET: Large-scale International IPv6 Pilot Network • Euro6IX: European IPv6 Internet Exchanges Backbone • NGN-LAB: Next Generation Networks Laboratories • 6LINK: IPv6 Projects Linkage Cluster – accompanying measure - cluster
GRIDs • DATAGRID: Research and Technological Development for an International Data
Grid • EUROGRID:Application Testbed for European GRID Computing • DAMIEN: Distributed Applications and Middleware for Industrial Use of European
Networks • DATATAG: Research and Technological Development for a TransAtlantic Grid • GRIDLab: A Grid Application Toolkit and Testbed • GRIDSTART: Grid Dissemination, Standards, Applications, Roadmap and Training
Access Technologies and Networks • TORRENT: Technology for a Realistic End User Access Network Testbed • MOICANE: Multiple Organisation Interconnection for Collaborative Advanced
Network Experiments
Optical Networks • ATRIUM: A Testbed of Terabit IP Routers Running MPLS over DWDM
Quality of Service • SEQUIN: Service Quality across Independent Managed Networks
Digital Libraries • SCHOLNET: A Digital Library Testbed to Support Networked Scholarly Communities
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European Research Network backbone
Strategic study on RN
GÉANT Budget - 200 M from which 80 M EU funding Coverage - 32 countries Achievements - 10Gbit/s, MoU with Internet2 (2 links of 2,5Gbit/s to North
America)
International
CAESAR Feasibility Study for ALIS
TEIN Initial connection 2Mbit/s operational
SERENATE Future of RN in Europe… Status report to Council on 100Mbit/s…
Broadband Interconnection of National Research and Education Networks
GÉANT
Abstract GÉANT is providing a very high performance, advanced, pan- European networking service interconnecting services provided by Europe’s National Research and Education Networks. It supports the development activities of the European Research and Education community. New and advanced applications are being developed to exploit the network capabilities.
Objectives The primary objective of GÉANT is the creation of a multi Gigabit pan-European network to interconnect National Research and Education Networks. The initial aim of having a network based on DWDM has already been achieved and the GÉANT network became operational on the 1 December 2001. It is the intention to build on this platform both by expanding the platform performance itself, moving to transmission and access capacity in the range of tens of GBps, and to extend the geography of the network by improving its global connectivity, with the objective of expanding connections between Europe and other world regions. In addition GÉANT will initiate a set of service developments that will provide Quality of Service, Virtual Private Networking, Multicast and Network Security. These technical developments will be based on experience gained in the previous TEN-155 project.
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Duration: 48 months
Total effort in person-month: 48
Web site: http://www.dante.net/geant
Contact person: Mr Dai Davies email: [email protected] tel.: +44 1223 302992 fax.: +44 1223 303005
Project participants: ACOnet OCYT/CICYT ARNES PSNC BELNET RENATER CESNET RESTENA CYNET RoEduNet DANTE SANET DFN SWITCH EENET UKERNA FCCN GRNET HEAnet HUNGARNET IMCS LU INFN IUCC KTU NORDUnet
Key words:
Collaboration with other EC funded projects:
Technical Approach The technical approach is to procure advanced transmission and routing components via competitive tender and to integrate them to create an advanced network. Having done this, a programme of development will be carried out using the infrastructure.
Europe has an active presence in the development and testing of Internet technologies. This is particularly the case in the area of Quality of Service. It is also true for developments such as IPv6 and multicast. The management of QoS, across differing technologies and multiple management domains, is a serious challenge. In the global internet community, much work is also in progress on the investigation and development of technologies (for example, MPLS and diffserv) to support QoS features in IP networks, multicast developments, trials of IP over DWDM, and the management of end-end QoS across different technologies and management domains.
IP Quality of Service is an area of intense development activity in which many NRENs are directly involved. Much of the work is concentrated on mechanisms which will support various form of differential QoS for different sets of users; much more work needs to be done, for example on management facilities such as bandwidth brokers, before the new technologies can be deployed effectively across an operational network.
Results GÉANT has already created the most advanced international networking infrastructure in the world. It is expected that the service portfolio offered by this network will be expanded from a basic IP service to encompass Quality of Service offerings as well as support for groups of users and service developments, such as Multicast and IPv6.
Innovation The main innovative elements of the project are to acquire and integrate the most advanced transmission systems and routing equipment to create a network whose performance will break new ground. Having achieved this it is intended to implement innovative service developments, as well as improvements to the management and operations of the network and to continue such innovation for the life of the project.
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Abstract CAESAR will examine the establishment of a direct connection between the pan- European network GÉANT and similar research networks in South America. It will explore the demand for such a connection, the costs associated with it, as well as the benefits. Key players in South American research networking will be involved as appropriate. The objective is to produce a comprehensive analysis of options with recommendations for implementation.
Objectives There are strong historical links between South American countries and, in particular, the countries of the Iberian peninsula in Europe. They share common history and linguistic heritage and there is, consequently, significant interest in providing direct research network connectivity between Europe and the South America region to support current and potential co-operative research between the two regions.
Developments in research networking in South America mean that countries are now becoming equipped with a National Research & Education Network. In Europe, GÉANT is providing a much enhanced pan-European research Internet with speeds at up to 10 Gbit/s and with the European Distributed Access as an integral feature of the network designed to facilitate connections between Europe and other world regions. GÉANT is based on IP router technology to provide a variety of services which connects 31 different European countries. DANTE is the co-ordinating partner for this project. There is significant scope for collaboration between European researchers and those in South America. The objective of the CAESAR project is to investigate the possibilities for direct connection between the two regions.
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Project name: CAESAR
Contract no.: IST-2001-35412
Web site: http://www.dante.net/caesar
Contact person: Mr.Dai Davies email: [email protected] tel.: +44 1223 302992 fax.: +44 1223 303005
Project participants: Dai Davies DANTE Victor Castelo RedIRIS Pedro Veiga FCCN Joao Cunha FCCN
Key words: @LIS National Research and Education Networks International Co-operation
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: @LIS Pilot Projects GEANT EUMEDCONNECT
Technical Approach An important goal is to understand and develop interest in South America in such a connection, as well as to look at the funding and decision making processes involved in the individual countries. Part of the project consists of face to face discussions with network organisation managers in South America to explore demand funding and operational implications. There are a number of areas of co-operative research and development that are carried out over research Internet connections within South America. Most of these connections transit via the North American Internet. As a result, Quality of Service available is, at best, indifferent and it is difficult to form a picture of the true user demand. A key aspect of the study is to provide a systematic quantification of the demand for connectivity between South American researchers together with a translation of this into possible capacity. In addition, we will explore plans for intra- regional co-operation in South America and the possibility of exploiting this for connectivity with Europe.
A workshop among interested parties from Europe and South America will be held to progress the work. There are a number of areas of R&D co-operation today. These are generally in the scientific and engineering field. Direct connectivity would be of principal benefit to researchers in these disciplines. In addition there are a number of potential user groups who co-operate internationally. The demand analysis will quantify potential as well as actual current demand.
Applications In South America, there has been considerable development of similar National Research and Education Networks. There is also significant interest in developing scientific and technical co-operation with Europe from a number of countries in South America. There is, however, today no direct connection between South America and European Research Networks.
By examining, co-operatively with interested parties in South America, the possibilities for providing direct connections between Research Networks in two continents, as well as considering the cost benefits and opportunities for exploiting such connections, the project will build awareness of IST in South America. The proposed solutions will be targeted at increasing access to universities and research centres by developing research Internet connectivity to support co-operation.
Innovation The primary aim is to improve research connectivity with other world regions. By understanding the potential requirements for co-operation between South American researchers and European researchers, as well as the economic implications and potential implementation modalities, we will be in a position to develop the specific proposal for interconnection.
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Abstract The project EUMEDCONNECT addresses Strand 1 Lot 2 of the EUMEDIS initiative as specified in the EUMEDIS Technical and Administrative provisions. It will improve connectivity for research and education within the region by providing additional international IP infrastructure and connect EUMEDIS partner countries to GÉANT (the pan-European network for the research and education community). EUMEDCONNECT aims to foster research collaboration between Europe and the Mediterranean regions, and assist the pilot IP applications being funded through EUMEDIS Strand 2. Once the first phase is completed it is intended to tender, implement and operate the recommendations of Phase 1.
Objectives EUMEDCONNECT Phase 1 assesses how best to achieve the following objectives: To provide international connectivity that links Mediterranean NREN's to the GÉANT pan-European research network, and to any other research networks accessible through GÉANT; To increase international research network connectivity within the Mediterranean region; To provide international network services that assist the Information Society Pilot Applications projects supported under Strand 2 of EUMEDIS and the research and education communities in each of the beneficiary countries; To promote good practice in providing effective network services within each beneficiary country; and To ensure that the network services and international structures set up as part of the project are sustainable beyond the end of the project.
Background The Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Conference of 27-28 November 1995 stressed in its economic chapter that the support for the development of the scientific and technological community of the Mediterranean partner countries (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, the Palestinian authority, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey), together with the upgrade and modernisation of local telecommunication infrastructure, are two pivotal elements for the success of the Euro- Mediterranean partnership. In February 1999 the European Commission approved a comprehensive regional MEDA initiative for development of the Euro-Mediterranean Information Society specifically designed to reduce the region's informational and technological gap vis-à- vis the neighbouring countries. The name of this initiative is EUMEDIS (Euro- MEDiterranean Information Society). Internet connectivity is a relatively scarce resource in the Mediterranean partner countries; there is virtually no direct inter-Mediterranean connectivity (between 2 Mediterranean countries), modest internal connectivity (among research centres in a given partner country) and very modest Euro-Mediterranean connectivity. One of the main objectives of EUMEDIS is to fund the (Internet based) interconnection between the research networks of the Mediterranean partner countries1 (intra) as well as with the European research network (inter) (EUMEDIS Initiative Strand one Lot 2). This intra and inter-connectivity will not only boost the development of the Internet in each Mediterranean country, but will also create an infrastructure all around the Mediterranean region, which will transport any sort of co-operative research application developed by the partners of the Barcelona process.
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Contract no.: EUMEDIS Contract handled by the EuropeAid Co-ordination Office
Project type: Grant
Start date: 14/12/2001
Duration: Phase 1: 4 months Phase 2: 36 months
Total budget: Phase 1: 243.800 Phase 2: up to 12.500.000
Funding from the EC: Phase 1: 195.040 Phase 2: up to 10 000 000
Total effort in person-mo: 10
Contact person: Dr. David West [email protected] tel.: +44 7713 117 542 fax.: +44 1223 303 005
Project participants: DANTE UK GRNET Greece INFN-GARR Italy REDiris Spain RENATER France CERIST Algeria CYNET Cyprus EUN Egypt IUCC Israel NIC ordan CNRS Lebanon Univ. of Malta Malta MARWAN Morocco GCC Palestine HIAST Syria RNRST Tunisia ULAKBIM Turkey
Key words: EUMEDIS National Research and Education Networks
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: EUMEDIS Pilot Projects GEANT CAESAR @LIS
Technical Approach EUMEDCONNECT Phase 1 will survey current international IP service available to the 12 EUMEDIS countries, current levels and future requirements for international connectivity available to their research networks, drawing extensively on the local knowledge and expertise of the MED-NREN's. It will also survey potential supplier's capabilities and plans in the region. Technical requirements for interconnecting and managing additional infrastructure will be developed, and particularly for interconnection to GÉANT particularly drawing on the expertise of the EU-NREN's. Proposals for the commercial model, network topology and contractual relationships will be generally lead by DANTE with contributions sought from all participants to develop a sound basis for progressing into the next phase of the project. This methodology draws on the expertise of the participants to test the practicality and identify the best approaches to achieve the objective of EUMEDIS Strand 1 Lot 2 objectives. The MED-NREN’s will represent the views of their national research networking organisations and provide on the ground knowledge of their networking capabilities and needs. The participating European NREN’s have extensive experience in co-operating with the EUMEDIS countries and in establishing organisational and financial structures for international research networking to bring to the Study. DANTE has expertise in providing international networking services for all European NREN’s, and is acting as
Co-ordinating Partner for GÉANT.
Expected Results The project will assess how to improve the capabilities for international research networking between Europe and the Mediterranean, with the aim of fostering greater collaboration and cohesion between the regions, and within the Mediterranean region. Any subsequent implementation would also assist the development of the EUMEDIS Strand 2 pilot IP application projects. EUMEDCONNECT has the potential to accelerate the development of connectivity for international research within the Mediterranean region, with benefits for the wider economies and societies of the region. Its benefits could be extended into the wider communities with longer term benefits for development and prosperity in the Mediterranean area
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@LIS Interconnection
Abstract @LIS will include a series of activities aiming at creating the condition for a long term partnership between Latin America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela) and Europe by focussing on the following priorities : Development of infrastructures, Training of human resources and Promoting contents and applications.
Support and contributions of the @LIS Interconnection activity will be designed to increase the interconnection capacities linking research communities in European, Latin-American and Caribbean with each other. On either side of the Atlantic this will make most use of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) and Internet based resources on a daily basis by enabling and supporting joint research undertakings. By strengthening this interconnection capacity, the @LIS Interconnection Initiative will also enable and contribute to the pilot projects, foreshadowing the future uses of the networks.
Objectives The objectives for the @LIS Interconnection Initiative are:
Increase the interconnection between R&D communities of Latin America and Europe by providing them with the communications links needed to foster collaborative work.
Provide international connectivity that links Latin American NRENs to the GÉANT pan-European research network, and to any other research networks accessible through GÉANT;
Increase international research network connectivity within the Latin American region;
Provide international network services that assist the @LIS Pilot Applications projects and the research and education communities in each of the beneficiary countries;
Promote good practice in providing effective network services within each beneficiary country; and
Ensure that the network services and international structures set up as part of the project are sustainable beyond the end of the project.
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Project name: @LIS Interconnection
Contract no.: @LIS Contract handled by the EuropeAid Co- ordination Office
Project type: Grant
Funding from the EC: up to 10.000.000
Contact person: Dr. Dai Davies email: [email protected] tel.: +44 1223 302 992 fax: +44 1223 303 005
Key words: International Co-operation @LIS National Research and Education Networks
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: @LIS Pilot Projects CAESAR GEANT EUMEDCONNECT
Background In order to reinforce the partnership between the European Union and Latin America, the European Commission has launched the co-operation programme “Alliance for the Information Society - @LIS” with Latin America. The programme aims at establishing a dialogue and co-operation on policy and regulatory frameworks in various areas such as telecommunications, e-commerce, and standardisation. It aims inter alia at boosting the interconnections between research networks and communities in both regions. It also aims at implementing demonstration projects in Latin America in order to demonstrate the benefits of the information society applications to the citizen in several thematic areas.
Technical Approach The outcome and recommendations of CAESAR will be used as input for the implementation of the @LIS Interconnection initiative.
Expected Results The @LIS Interconnection Initiative will assess how to improve the capabilities for international research networking between Latin America and Europe, with the aim of fostering greater collaboration and cohesion between the regions, and within Latin America. Any subsequent implementation will also assist the development of the @LIS Pilot Projects. The @LIS Interconnection Initiative has the potential to accelerate the development of connectivity for international research within the Latin American region, with benefits for the wider economies and societies of the region. Its benefits could be extended into the wider communities with longer term benefits for development and prosperity in Latin America.
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LONG
Abstract LONG aims to forsee and solve problems related to the design and deployment of Next Generation Networks and Advanced user applications.
LONG is focused in IPv6, since this protocol is expected to become part of NGN networks. LONG experiments cover Network Access Systems (ADSL, CATV, ISDN) and Transport Technologies (ATM, POS, GbE) as well as IPv6 nodes (hosts, routers).
To achieve a complete study, LONG also includes studies and tests related to advanced network services (Mobility, Multicast...), end-user IPv6 applications (CSCW, Videoconference) and IPv4-IPv6 Transition Mechanisms.
Objectives The first LONG’s objective is to deploy a Next Generation Test-bed where IPv6 protocol can be studied and tested over different access and transport technologies.
Advanced Network services are studied and tested in order to validate the integration of them together with the IPv6 protocol.
IPv4-IPv6 transition mechanisms are studied and tested to incorporate transition scenarios and solutions in the LONG test-bed.
Finally a relevant end-user application or a set of them are to be migrated during the project, producing a set of guidelines about porting applications to IPv6 and mixed IPv4-IPv6 scenarios.
Figure: LONG Distributed IPv6 Test-Bed Platform
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Project name: LONG: Laboratories Over Next Generation Networks
Project type: RTD
Duration: 24 months
Web site: http://long.ccaba.upc.es/
Contact person: Mr. Carlos Ralli Ucendo email: [email protected] tel.: +34 913374563 fax.: +34 913374502
Project participants: Telefónica I+D Spain PT Inovaçao Portugal UEV Portugal UPC Spain UC3M Spain UPM Spain
Key words: IPv6 Network-Services Transition-Mechanisms CSCW-Applications
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: Euro6IX 6NET
Technical Approach and Test-Bed In order to achieve all LONG objectives, the following items are to be studied and tested: IPv6 study and equipment selection, Access and Transport systems, Transition Mechanisms, Advanced Network Services, End-user services, CSCW apps. porting. All partners work alone at the beginning for each item, generating documentation with a detailed description, standarization status and basic installation and configuration of the selected implementation. Then, these technologies are installed in some partners premises including them in the LONG test-bed to perform trials and experiments.
The first relevant milestone has been connecting all IPv6 partner’s networks obtaining a first release of the LONG test-bed. Next step has been setting up some basic network services: DNS, routing protocols (BGP) and develop and install network monitoring tools.
The following step is to include in the network end-user services: WEB server, FTP server, Mail and News services connected to current Internet mail system, LDAP server including LONG participants information, IRC service, etc.
The connectivity of these IPv6 servers with IPv6 & IPv4 clients, and even other IPv4 servers, will naturally demand the installation of the Transition Mechanisms studied and tested first by each partner (stand-alone tests).
In parallel with all this work, ISABEL CSCW (collaborative work) IPv4 application is used from the beginning of the project to perform most of LONG meetings using an IPv4 temporally broadband infrastructure (needs 2 Mbps for multivideoconference). One main task of LONG project is to port ISABEL software to IPv6 and generate application porting and migration guidelines. Once ISABELv6 is tested enough, the objective is to re-design the IPv6 LONG Test-bed (using GEANT or other broadband services/projects) to perform LONG meetings using ISABELv6 over the permanent project IPv6 infrastructure.
The stable IPv6 project Test-Bed is showed in the figure in the previous page. In that figure the different access systems, user service’s servers and client hosts appear to be connected to a single “IPv6 LONG Network”. This is really a global vision of the distributed platform. The actual infrastructure corresponds to it in the following manner:
Central LONG IPv6 network: is a network of IPv6 subnets, each subnet is placed in each partner’s premises. Array of IPv6 servers/clients: they are distributed among all partners premises. IPv4 Network and IPv4 servers/Clients: composed by all IPv4 test networks where each partners install IPv4 clients/server to test transition scenarios.
Trials and Experiments are performed over this stable platform.
Applications LONG will provide guidelines and conclusions related to the integration and end-user orientation of all items explained before. The main application of the project will be derived from the results and conclusions obtained in the trials and experiments to be done once the stable IPv6 platform is ready.
Innovation The most innovation characteristics of LONG project are: Integration: IPv6, different access & transport systems, transition scenarios, advanced services and applications are tested to integrate all them in a single platform. Practical orientation: i.e. not all combinations of T.M and transition scenarios are studied: The transition mechanisms are only introduced in the stable platform when needed by the network/user services (IPv4/IPv6 clients/host interaction). End-user orientation: All elements in the stable test-bed are introduced to provide benefits for user/network services.
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Abstract The 6WINIT project will validate the introduction of a MOBILE WIRELESS INTERNET in Europe that uses the new Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) and wireless protocols such as GPRS and UMTS. It is expected to address problems such as scarcity of IP addresses, quality of service and security from the IP side and lack of spectrum and bandwidth from the wireless side. It will link to existing IPv6 infrastructures and will be validated using existing applications with an emphasis on the clinical domain.
Objectives The main objective of 6WINIT is to validate the introduction of a new mobile wireless internet based on IPv6 and wireless protocols such as WLAN, GPRS and UMTS, ensuring these implementations are generic and not commercially biased. It also includes the validation of the integration of the related protocol suites into real applications by running application testbeds. It attempts to ensure that the validation applications are not too specific to a particular platform or network. It wishes to target particularly, though not exclusively, the clinical domain. It tries to maintain an international perspective in its activities.
Technical Approach The project wishes to cover a whole range of activities in the context of IPv6 and the Wireless Internet. These range from particular protocols and specific applications through network components, networks and full testbeds. There are five themes of the work: Architecture, Applications, Components, Networks and testbeds. Since we plan complete applications testbeds, one set of activities is the provision of IPv6-enabled applications – though not their development; here we have deliberately chosen both generic ones, and ones in the clinical domain. Amongst the generic applications are video conferencing and a weather station; amongst the clinical ones are tele- consultation from ambulances, access to cardiology databases and remote viewing of radiograms. The components include the provision of mobility support in routers, provisions for security and Quality of Service at interfaces to the wireless domain, and ensuring that platforms such as PDAs can use IPv6 over various wireless networks. The networks used include now IEEE 802.11b WLANs and GPRS; we hope to have access to UMTS before the end of the project. We are defining architectures that define the protocol structures to be used, and would allow the validation of the applications in the IPv6 and wireless environments. We try to ensure that these architectures are consistent with the work in the standards bodies like the IETF and 3GPP and CEN, though we are quite prepared to deviate from their recommendations, and put forward modification proposals at their meetings. Finally, we intend to validate our approach by carrying out complete system trials and demonstrations.
Preliminary Experiments Much of the first year was spent in ensuring that the different applications and platforms were IPv6 enabled. Wireless LANs were put in at most of the partners’ sites, and GPRS was enabled for partners in Germany and the UK. IPv6-enabled Routers were installed in several sites, and the protocol stacks envisaged in the architecture were partially put together. Several demonstrations were given, including some at IST2001. In this we used IPv6 over WLANs, GPRS and a simulated ambulance situation, showing tele-consultation and the transfer of data from a simulated patient to a medical team and another showing a position aware system on a wireless LAN. At the last technical review, we showed also remote wireless access to a cardiology database from a PDA, using application/IPv6/IPv4/GPRS. Yet another demonstration showed video streaming from an IPv6 to an IPv4 network at Mbps streams using WLANs with different transition mechanisms between the two networks.
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Project name: 6WINIT - IPv6 Wireless Internet IniTiative
Project type: RTD
Total effort in person- month:550
Web site: http://www.6winit.org/
Contact person: Prof. Peter T. Kirstein email: [email protected] tel.: +44 (0) 20 7679 7286 fax: +44(0) 20 7387 1397
Project participants: UCL UK UoS UK BT UK Ericsson-TED DK Ericsson-Research SE Ericsson-Poland PL T-NOVA DE TZI DE IABG DE RUS DE UKT DE 6WIND F VTT FI UMM PL Telscom CH
Key words: IPv6, wireless, applications, testbeds and mobile.
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: 6INIT, WINE, ANDROID, 6NET, 6LINK, NGNI
Testbed We expect to set up testbeds in the three hospitals concerned with this project – in Tubingen, Krakow and London. In these we will explore complementary clinical applications that make full use of the generic applications like conferencing, media conversion at the wireless boundary, virtual private networks and mobile IP. We expect to use the 6NET IP network to provide IPv6 connectivity between the 6WINIT sites. UMTS testbed facilities should be available towards the end of the year.
Applications It is clear that this work will have considerable applicability not only to the clinical environment, but also to many others. An important aspect is to show the mobile carriers that it there are many applications waiting to go onto their networks as soon as they make them available.
Innovation The main innovation is that all these components are being put together into a real systems environment. We will not be concentrating on little pieces of the problem, but will be going all the way from a real application through to a systems testbed.
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Schematic of the networks planned in 6WINIT
IST2001 Demo Set-up
Abstract 6NET is Europe’s largest IPv6 related Internet research project, and aims to deploy and test IPv6 under realistic conditions. The 31 project partners represent a rich combination of research and industrial organizations. The consortium will provide a native IPv6 network on an international scale, throughout Europe, and to North America and the Asia-Pacific region, for test and demonstration purposes. The 6NET infrastructure will connect more countries at a higher capacity than any other native IPv6 network deployed to date; initially spanning nine European countries, with links of up to 2.5Gbit/s.
Objectives The main goals of the project are to: build and operate a dedicated international IPv6 network, and use this network to
validate that the demands for the continuous growth of the global Internet can be met with the new IPv6 technology.
help European research and industry to play a leading role in defining the next generation of networking and application technologies that go beyond the current state of the art.
Sub-objectives are to: provide and operate a combined fixed/mobile IPv6 pilot network, in order to gain a better understanding of IPv6 deployment issues, including physical infrastructure, address allocation, registries, routing and DNS operation.
operate an international pilot service such that geographically dispersed groups can interwork using native IPv6 facilities.
study, implement and validate IPv6/v4 coexistence, migration techniques and transition tools.
test state of the art IPv6 applications and access to legacy IPv4 applications and content.
exploit the synergy between work being performed on IPv6 by manufacturers such as Cisco, IBM and Sony, DANTE, European NRENs and Universities.
Figure The 6NET Network Map
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UK
NL
DE
CH
IT
AT
GR
SE
UK
NL
DE
CH
IT
AT
GR
SE
FR
Project name: 6NET
Project type: RTD
Duration: 36 months
Total budget: 16.941.983
Web site: http://www.sixnet.org
Contact person: Mr. Theo de Jongh email: [email protected] tel.: +32 475 52 72 61 fax.: +32 2 778 43 00
Project participants: Cisco, B ULB, B Dante, UK TERENA, NL Sony, D IBM, F NTT-Com, J RENATER, F UKERNA, UK NORDUnet,DK DFN, D SURFnet, NL SWITCH, CH ACOnet, A GRnet, GR GARR, I UCL, UK UoS, UK ULANC, UK TELIN, NL UNINETT, N FUnet, Fin Oulu Poly, FS Uni Oulu, Fin Invenia, N WWU, D FhG-Fokus, D CTI, GR DTU, DK INRIA, F ULP, F
Key words: IPv6 International pilot network Network services Applications
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: Euro6IX GEANT NGN-LAB 6WINIT 6LINK NGN-I
Technical Approach First a stable European infrastructure will rapidly be put in place, and supporting network features will be developed in order that sophisticated applications - that take advantage of IPv6 capabilities - can be validated and demonstrated. Once the pan- European network is operational, the 6NET pilot network will be extended to link also North America and the Asia-Pacific region. In parallel with all these activities, management tools will be selected/developed in the project and integrated into the network operation procedures. The work therefore follows an approach that allows for the incremental integration of new connectivity, network services, applications and management tools into the testbed. The main items of technical work are focused in these 3 broad areas: infrastructure, network services, and application trials. The IPv6 infrastructure will initially be based on a central core of European cities and be gradually extended within Europe and to North America and the Asia Pacific region. The extension within Europe entails not only the linking of new core locations, but also the pervasion of IPv6 within the NREN networks, and into many University campus environments. Each phase of this growth will be associated with new network operation and management features, and tests of interoperability. Similarly, new network services (IPv6 DNS tree, IPv6 multicast, IPv6 mobility, IPv6-only wireless LAN access, VPN, etc.) and transition strategies/tools will be integrated and tested as they are developed. In parallel with all these activities, management tools will be selected/developed in the project and integrated into the network operation procedures. Finally, the experimentation with applications will begin with IPv6 applications in common use (mail, web, vic, vat, etc.) and lead up to advanced experiments with state of the art IPv6 applications.
Expected Achievements The main expected result is the provision and operation of a large-scale (intercontinental) combined fixed/mobile IPv6 pilot network, with the associated management functionality. This will bring a better understanding of IPv6 deployment issues, such as the physical infrastructure, and network service issues such as address allocation, registries, routing and DNS operation. Further achievements will include a study, implementation and validation of IPv6/v4 coexistence, migration techniques and transition tools. State of the art IPv6 applications and access to legacy IPv4 applications and content will be tested. The practical experience gained in deploying emerging technologies in realistic settings will help European research and industry to play a leading role in defining the next generation of networking and application technologies.
Innovation The innovation of this project extends from the many service support development activities, through to the building and operation (including management) of the network, so that it can be used for the application trials. For example:
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auto-configuration, and the relationship between auto-configuration and User/Terminal management, multihoming, multicast, performance, and roaming.
support for class-of-service (in the form of a ‘Traffic Class’ field compliant with the IETF DiffServ model).
IPSec. the development and testing of network services such as DNS, multicast routing,
etc the design, implementation and test of both intra-domain and inter-domain IPv6
multicast. Interoperability with IPv4 multicast will be examined too. interoperability between IPv6 network services and IPv4 network services. mobility (wireless-only LANs in an end-site environment, ranging from 802.11b,
Bluetooth and 802.11a, through to the convergence of mobile and fixed network technologies.
new applications that will stress the network and be used to evaluate the benefits to end-users that IPv6 can bring, through the expanded IP addresses, integrated auto- configuration, quality-of-service (QoS), mobility and security.
Abstract The goal of the Euro6IX project is to support the rapid introduction of IPv6 in Europe. Towards this target, the project has defined a work plan. This describes the network design, network deployment, research on advanced network services, development of applications (that will be validated through the involvement of user groups and international trials), and active dissemination activities, including events and conferences, contributions to standards (IETF among others), publication of papers and active promotion of all the publicly available project results through the project web site. The project will research, design and deploy a native Pan-European IPv6 network, called the Euro6IX test bed. It will include the most advanced services obtainable from present technology and will follow the architecture of the current Internet (based on IPv4). It will consider all the levels needed for the worldwide deployment of the next generation Internet.
Objectives Research an appropriate architecture to design and deploy the first Pan-European non-commercial IPv6 Internet Exchange (IX) Network. It will connect several regional neutral IPv6 Internet Exchange points across Europe, and achieve the same level of robustness and service quality as currently offered by IPv4 Internet Exchange Networks. Use the deployed IPv6 IX infrastructure to research, test and validate IPv6-based applications and services. Open the Euro6IX network to specific user groups (existing and to be created), who will be connecting to the Euro6IX network by means of a variety of access technologies – mobile, xDSL, cable – and internetworking with legacy IPv4 networks and services, to test the performance of future IPv6 networks, and non-commercial native IPv6 advanced services and applications. Disseminate, liaise and coordinate with clusters, fora, standards organizations (e.g. the IETF and RIPE) and third parties, with particular consideration for interworking and coordination with peer projects.
Figure Initial Euro6IX Network
Project name: Euro6IX
Project type: RTD
Duration: 36 months
Total effort in person-month: 1.299
Web site: http://www.euro6ix.net
Contact person: Carlos Ralli / Jordi Palet email: [email protected] tel.: +349133745 63 / 1518199 fax.: +34913374502 / 1518198
Project participants: TID Spain Consulintel Spain TILAB Italy UPM Spain TELSCOM Switzerland UoS UK 6WIND France Airtel Spain T-Nova Germany BT UK E&A Abogados Spain Telebit Denmark Eurocontrol Belgium FT RD France novaGnet Spain PTIN Portugal UMU Spain
Key words: IPv6 IX Native Backbone Mobility
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: 6NET, MIND, LONG, GÉANT, 6WINIT, NGNLAB
Technical Approach The success of the Euro6IX project will be measured against the achievement level of: Good management of project activities to meet the milestones according to agreed plans, on top of the rest of the activities (WP1). Procurement of IXs according to defined specifications, deployment and provision of efficient interconnectivity for the IPv6 European level Internet (designed by WP2, and deployed by WP3). Involvement of research entities and non-commercial trial users in order to use this network, advanced services and applications (developed by WP4). Promotion of the IPv6 interests by ISPs and users through test and trials (WP5 and carried out by WP4). Creation of awareness with Euro6IX activities at events of IST, IETF, fora, summits and national events with targeted participants (WP5).
Testbed The infrastructure of Euro6IX will consist of the following different network levels: IX-level: Regional native IPv6 exchanges. Backbone-level: Pan-European core network that interconnects the regional exchanges and creates the highest level in the network hierarchy. Node-level: Service providers, ISPs and other providers accessing the core network to provide IPv6 services and end user access. The users will be connected by means of a variety of access technologies, including legacy IPv4 networks and services whenever no IPv6 native links are available or feasible. This level includes a set of academic, research and non-commercial trial users who will use native IPv6 services and generate IPv6 native traffic.
Applications Euro6IX will offer advanced network services, and a repository of IPv6 enabled applications, which have been ported, adapted or enhanced, and made available for trials both within Euro6IX and to third parties. Emphasis will be put on tools that use the advanced features of IPv6 such as:
Code porting (include Java). Address Delegation WEB Tools. Instant Messaging. WEB Mail Tools. Multimedia. Shareware Repository. Test Suites. On-Line Education Tools. Billing Tools Prototypes.
Innovation In order to allow for the continuous growth of the Internet, it is necessary to provide a neutral IPv6 based test exchange facility for researchers and ISPs to connect to and test the network, performance, its reliability and scalability, to determine if large scale networks can be established, solving interoperability and QoS issues. This is the key purpose of the Euro6IX project. Euro6IX will: Provide efficient interconnectivity for the IPv6 European networks. Involve the research community and non-commercial trial users on the network, with advanced services and applications. Promote the interests of ISPs and users for IPv6 development. Create awareness through dissemination of project results among the targeted recipients (IETF, RIPE, fixed and mobile operators, Summits, etc.).
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IPv6 Backbone (6BONE)
Abstract The project establishes a platform for the development of advanced Internet technologies, by provisioning the required system infrastructure and interactive applications, to realise Next Generation Network related experiments
Objectives Provision of a test platform for Next Generation Networks main topics addressed are: IPv6 and QoS additonal topics: security, mobility, access networks, interworking & interoperability, multimedia Support of IST and national research projects for testing their systems: applications and test equipment provision link to TEN-155/GEANT to test across 2 testbeds in Basel (CH) and Brussels (BE)
Figure IPv6 Connection between Brussels (EuroDemo) and Basel (MCLab)
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Web site: http://www.ngn-lab.org
Project participants: ULB Belgium VUB Belgium CISCO Belgium Dimension Data Belgium MCLab Switzerland TELSCOM Switzerland NEC Germany ResCom Ireland
Key words: IPv6, Next Generation Networks, QoS, interoperability, interworking
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: 6NET 6WINIT CADENUS, AQUILA, TEQUILA GEANT MOEBIUS SEQUIN TORRENT
Technical Approach NGN-LAB is making advanced networking infrastructure available in two interconnected testbeds, to support IST projects to test new technologies such as IP telephony, IP over xDSL, IP over ATM, IP over WDM, etc.
Testbed Two testbeds in NGN-LAB: Basel, MCLab: multiple applications, terminals, LANs and WLANs, and connectivity to GEANT:
multiple access technologies IPv6 implemented and tested DiffServ environment available
Brussels, EuroDemo environment: ADSL and ISDN access network connectivity to GEANT multiple IPv6 applications
In both testbeds, IPv6 applications are installed on: Windows 2000, Linux (Suse, RedHat, Debian), FreeBSD 4.4
Applications ping, traceroute, vic, rat, quake, DNS, DiffServ, traffic generators, ...
Innovation NGN-LAB is liasing with other national and international testbeds and Forums, to promote the Next Generation Networks infrastructure for provisioning end-to-end services.
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Abstract The 6LINK project aims to unite IPv6 projects across the IST programme and beyond. It seeks to identify IST projects that have an interest in IPv6, including projects that may not mention IPv6 specifically in their definitions, and to bring representatives from identified projects together in a series of workshops. These workshops will serve to foster a common view of the status of IPv6 development and deployment in Europe and elsewhere, and will permit the identification of the most important issues for IPv6 deployment in Europe. The project seeks to identify common issues and promote shared understanding amongst all participants, and to disseminate this work to as wide an audience as possible. Dissemination vehicles will include an annual publication of reports compiled by members of the 6LINK consortium. In addition, the 6LINK project will establish an IPv6 resource center which will serve as a repository for the outputs of 6LINK as well as providing an important source of up-to-date and detailed information about IPv6-enabled applications and IPv6 standards.
Objectives The 6LINK project has three objectives. These are consensus-building, dissemination and exploitation. The European Commission is actively sponsoring a number of IPv6- related IST projects, and there are other bodies, for example Eurescom, that fund IPv6-related collaborative work. It is the objective of 6LINK to bring representatives of these projects together to identify common experiences and to share knowledge and understanding of the state-of-the-art with regards to IPv6 development and deployment in Europe. The second objective, dissemination, builds upon the consensus and understanding generated by the first objective and seeks to promulgate the agreements and analyses arrived at by the partners to as wide an audience as possible. The third objective is concerned with capitalising on the synergies developed through achievement of the first objective, by providing support to participants developing inputs to standards bodies, and by presenting 6LINK participants' submissions at standards meetings. The intention is to bring focus and clarity to the development and deployment of IPv6 in Europe, and beyond, in the hope that this will hasten its widespread adoption as the internetworking protocol of choice, and thereby give European industry and society an important advantage in the global information society.
Figure 6LINK
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Total effort in person-month: 67.3
Web site: http://www.6link.org
Contact person: Mr. Matthew Ford email: [email protected] tel.: +44 131 662 9543 fax.: +44 131 662 9543
Project participants: BT UK Telscom CH T-Nova D UoS UK Consulintel E UCL UK UPM E CRM F DANTE UK TERENA NL UC3M E
Key words: CLUSTER IPv6
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: 6WINIT Euro6IX 6NET NGNLab MobyDick GEANT ANDROID LONG MIND GCAP
Technical Approach In order to achieve the objectives set out above, the 6LINK project will adopt a workplan with elements to address the key areas of consensus-building, dissemination and exploitation. The core of the consensus-building work will be a series of workshops, held every four months throughout the project, at which partners will present and discuss the latest developments, both within the represented projects, and from the global IPv6 community. A global perspective will be achieved by including standards development reports as regular inputs to these workshops. As well as identifying commonalities of interest and important issues for IPv6 development and deployment in Europe, the workshops will agree specific subjects for written reports. These reports will be reviewed and agreed at subsequent workshops and will serve to bring focus and clarity to the subject of IPv6 development and deployment in Europe.
In tandem with the workshops, the project will establish an online resource centre, which will provide public access to 6LINK reports, IPv6-related IST news and developments, and will host a database of IPv6-enabled applications. This online resource centre will partly meet the objective of disseminating the work of 6LINK to as wide an audience as possible. To further the achievement of this objective, the project will publish books of these reports on an annual basis. The form of this publication is to be decided, but may take the form of the Lecture Notes in Computing Science.
In order to best achieve the third objective, exploitation, the 6LINK project will seek to identify opportunities for common trials across projects, to draw further benefit from the work being done in IST projects, and to build on contacts and partnerships forged at 6LINK workshops. 6LINK will monitor standards development activities being undertaken as part of represented projects and will provide services to these projects in the form of presentations at standards meetings, document review and editorial support. The 6LINK project will serve to co-ordinate inputs to standards bodies from all of the represented projects and will take an active role in promoting the standards development work of 6LINK participants at standards meetings, provided that there is no contravention of the rules governing participation in the standards body in question by so doing.
Expected Achievements and Results It is expected that 6LINK will foster an improved understanding throughout the IST community of the most important issues for IPv6 development and deployment. 6LINK will publish 3 books on the subjects deemed most important by the participants in 6LINK workshops. 6LINK will also serve to heighten awareness of the status of IPv6-related standards development, and will help to promote the standards work of participant organisations within the relevant standards bodies
Innovation The 6LINK project provides the first, and only, forum for IPv6-related IST projects to come together and discuss important issues. Prior to the 6LINK project, collaboration and discussion between projects took place informally. 6LINK provides a formal, funded framework for such collaboration, and sets clear objectives for the participants in terms of deliverables. 6LINK will serve to identify and document the important issues for IPv6 development and deployment in Europe. 6LINK provides the first forum for dissemination of developments in the commercial, academic and standards arenas that is focused exclusively on IPv6 technologies.
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Abstract The DataGrid project aims at developing, implementing and exploiting a large-scale data and CPU-oriented computational GRID. This new hardware/software infrastructure will allow geographically distributed processing of huge amounts of data coming from three different scientific disciplines: High Energy Physics, Biology and Earth Observation. The project is developing the necessary “middleware” software in collaboration with some of the leading centres of expertise in GRID technology, leveraging practice and experience from previous and current GRID initiatives in Europe and elsewhere. The project, which will last three years, has produced its first software release in September 2001 (month 9). Two more major software releases are foreseen by September 2002 (month 21) and September 2003 (month 33). The first testbed has been deployed and demonstrated within the first year of activity. This testbed will be enlarged and used as a basis for important extensions and improvements during 2002 and 2003. The project will extend the state of the art in international, large-scale, data-intensive Grid computing, providing a solid base of knowledge and experience for exploitation by European Research first and eventually by Industry and Commerce.
Objectives The objective of this project is to enable next generation scientific exploration which requires intensive computation and analysis of shared large-scaled databases. The need of sharing huge amounts of data and computational resources across widely distributed communities is emerging in many scientific disciplines, including physics, biology, and earth sciences. Such sharing is complicated by the distributed nature of the resources to be used, the dispersed communities of scientists, the size of the data bases and the limited network bandwidth. To address these problems the DataGrid project is developing the necessary software components, building on emerging GRID technologies. The project is also implementing testbeds to demonstrate the usability of this software and the compliance with the requirements.
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Data Management, Monitoring Services, Mass Storage Management, Fabric Management
Applications (Work Packages 8-10): Earth Observation, High Energy Physics,
Biology
Te ch
ni ca
Organisation of the technical work packages in the DataGrid project
Research and Technological Development for an International Data Grid
Project name: DataGrid
Total budget: 12.820.000
Total effort in p.-mo: 3907
Web site: http://www.eu-datagrid.org
Contact person: Dr. Fabrizio Gagliardi [email protected] tel.: +41-22-7672374 fax.: +41-22-7677155
Project participants: CERN International ITC-IRST Italy UH Finland NFR Sweden ZIB Germany EVG HEI UNI Germany CNRS France CS SI France CEA France IFAE Spain ESA-ESRIN Italy INFN Italy Datamat Italy CNR Italy CESNET Czech Rep FOM Netherlands KNMI Netherlands SARA Netherlands PPARC UK MTA MTA-SZTAKI Hungary IBM UK
Key words: Information Processing Information Systems Scientific Research Telecommunication
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: DataTAG CrossGrid GridSTART Géant Damien Eurogrid
Technical Approach The DataGrid Project is organised into 12 Work Packages. The first five Work Packages are developing the “middleware” software, based on existing Grid toolkits. Work Package 1 deals with workload scheduling and aims at defining and implementing an architecture for distributed scheduling and resource management. Work Package 2 deals with data management and aims at implementing and comparing different distributed data management approaches including caching, file replication and file migration. Work Package 3 is specifying, developing, integrating and testing tools and infrastructures to enable access to status and error information in a GRID environment. The objective of Work Package 4 is to develop new automated system management techniques that will enable the deployment of very large computing fabrics constructed from mass market components with reduced system administration and operation costs. Work Package 5 has two objectives: defining a common user API and data export/import interfaces to various local mass storage management systems used by project partners and publishing details of available storage systems via GRID information systems.
Testbed Work Package 6 (Testbed) and Work Package 7 (Network) deal with planning, organising and operating the testbeds used to demonstrate and test the data and computing intensive Grid in production quality operation over high performance networks. Work Package 6 integrates successive releases of the software packages and makes these available for installation at the different testbed sites. It also plans and implements a series of progressively larger and more demanding demonstrations. Work Package 7 deals with network aspects of the project and aims at providing the GRID network management, ensuring the agreed quality of service, and providing information on network performance and reliability. The DataGrid project does not itself provide the network service but works in close collaboration with other European projects such as Géant.
Applications The next to be built particle accelerator “LHC” (Large Hadrons Collider) will be operational at CERN within a few years. The sheer computational capacity required to analyse the data produced by its detectors implies that the analysis must be performed at geographically distributed centres. The objective of Work Package 8 is to demonstrate the feasibility of the DataGrid technology to implement and operate effectively an integrated computing and data access service for the LHC experiments in an internationally distributed environment. The Earth Observation community collects data at distributed stations and maintains databases at different locations. The objective of Work Package 9 is to deploy the DataGrid middleware to provide uniform access to these large, distributed archives as if they were a unique facility. Molecular biology and genetics research use a large number of independent data bases and there are several national projects that aim at providing integrated access to these data bases. The objective of Work Package 10 is to use the DataGrid middleware for the interconnection of these national testbeds.
Innovation The project will produce a novel environment able to support globally distributed scientific exploration involving multi-PetaByte datasets. The project will devise and develop middleware solutions and testbeds capable of scaling in order to handle many PetaBytes of distributed data, tens of thousands of resources (processors, disks, ...), and thousands of simultaneous users. The project will produce this advanced and innovative environment by combining and extending newly emerging GRID technologies. A consequence of this project will be the diffusion of new strategies for scientific exploration, as access to fundamental scientific data is no longer constrained to the producer of that data. While the project focuses on scientific applications, issues of sharing data and computing power are germane to many applications and thus the project has a potential impact on future industrial and commercial activities.
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Abstract The EUROGRID project is establishing trans–European GRIDs for important application areas using UNICORE as a base. The Eurogrid partners are leading European HPC centres, application developers and user organisations from research and industry. Biology, meteorology and engineering applications will be made GRID- aware. Functional extension are being developed in the areas of failsafe file transfer, dynamic resource discovery and brokering, application coupling, ASP services and interactive access.
Objectives To establish a European GRID network of leading High Performance Computing centres from different European countries. To operate and support the EUROGRID software infrastructure. The EUROGRID software will use the existing Internet network and will offer seamless and secure access for the EUROGRID users. To develop important GRID software components and to integrate them into EUROGRID (fast file transfer, resource broker, interface for coupled applications and interactive access). To demonstrate distributed simulation codes from different application areas (Biomolecular simulations, Weather prediction, Coupled CAE simulations, Structural analysis, Real-time data processing). To contribute to the international GRID development and to liase with the leading international GRID projects. To productise the EUROGRID software components. After project end the EUROGRID software will be available as supported product.
Figure The left figure shows the architecture of UNICORE, the technical base of the EUROGRID project. The participating European HPC centers are shown in the right figure.
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Project name: EUROGRID
Project type: RTD
Duration: 36 months
Web site: http://www.eurogrid.org
Contact person: Karl Solchenbach email: [email protected] m tel.: +49-2232-1986-14 fax.: +49-2232-1896-29
Project participants: FZ Juelich Germany Pallas Germany CNRS/IDRIS France CSCS Switzerland DWD Germany EADS France Fecit UK Pallas Germany T-Systems Germany Univ Bergen Norway Univ Manchester UK
Key words: Computational GRID Seamless Access UNICORE High Performance Computing
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: DataGRID, DAMIEN, GRIP, GRIDSTART, GEANT
Technical Approach and Testbed In EUROGRID the concept of GRID computing is applied to a specific application domains and user scenarios. Bio-GRID for bio-molecular applications and scientific users Meteo-GRID for meteorological applications and scientific/general users CAE-GRID for engineering applications and engineers as users HPC Research GRID for traditional HPC applications and scientific users In addition horizontal technologies and GRID middleware components useful across application domains will be developed (efficient data transfer, resource brokerage, ASP services, application coupling, interactive access). These new components are integrated into the base GRID system and are evaluated in the HPC-GRID testbed.
Applications In the BIO–GRID activity, EUROGRID develops intuitive user interfaces for selected bio-molecular packages, and compatibility interfaces between these applications and their databases. The results is an integrated bio-molecular toolkit that allows streamlined work processes, and a job execution component that makes all systems in the BIO–GRID available for simulation runs with a uniform and intuitive user interface.
For many uses, precise meso– or microscale weather predictions are required: agriculture, pollution prediction, traffic and public event planning depend on precise localized weather data. To accommodate these users, a flexible framework for on– demand localized weather prediction is being developed in EUROGRID by the German weather service.
The coupling of several CAE codes, each one simulating different aspects of a system’s behaviour, is emerging as a key technology to accelerate design and construction of complex systems, reducing prototyping and testing time and costs. A general mechanism for the coupling of simulation packages is integrated in the EUROGRID system, and its use is demonstrated with real–world applications from EADS CCR.
Many industrial companies, in particular small and medium enterprises, lack in–house access to sufficiently powerful HPC systems, yet are increasingly depending on CAE systems and simulation packages. For them, the application service provider (ASP) scheme offers an attractive solution: instead of having to buy and maintain HPC systems and the necessary software licenses, an external provider of computing power runs their jobs and bills them according to the system time actually used. Within EUROGRID, T–Systems integrates ASP–specific functions and demonstrates an ASP system for the leading CAE packages on top of EUROGRID.
Innovation GRID computing is a new way to provide and access computer resources via Internet. EUROGRID lowers the thresholds for users to use High Performance Computing resources. Hardware and software is available “on demand”, HPC becomes affordable because only the actual usage is paid and no experts need to be involved. The provision of such “on-demand” services will be a new business of HPC centres and software vendors. EUROGRID will make several applications available under this model. Furthermore, EUROGRID is designed and implemented to support both inter– and intra–net use, in particular for the CAE–GRID. This capability will be a key factor in the industrial uptake. EUROGRID starts from an existing GRID system (UNICORE) and develops new innovative components in the areas of efficient data transfer mechanisms, resource brokerage, coupled applications, interactive access and computational steering.
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Abstract DAMIEN is a project that started out in early 2001 to continue the successful work of the European pilot project for GRID-Computing METODIS. METODIS had successfully shown the feasibility of the GRID-approach in industry. The objective of DAMIEN is to develop further building blocks for a middleware environment for distributed industrial simulation and visualisation in the GRID. Besides the multi- protocol MPI-library PACX-MPI for heterogeneous networks this includes the handling of Quality of Service requirements in distributed simulations. The coupling code interface MpCCI will allow to link distributed applications. Tools for performance analysis (Vampir) and performance prediction (DIMEMAS) are extended to be made GRID-aware. Applications from industry serve as test cases for the developed software.
Objectives The purpose of DAMIEN is to respond to the emerging infrastructure of computational resources connected by high speed networks which is generally described as the GRID. DAMIEN aims at developing a middleware toolbox which allows application- developers to port their applications to computational GRIDs as well as to ease the handling of distributed computing environments. The toolbox is developed by extending existing tools. The second goal of the project is then to test these tools by industrial applications on a testbed based on European and national high speed networks.
Overall structure of the DAMIEN project
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Distributed Applications and Middleware for Industrial Use of European Networks
Project name: DAMIEN
Project type: RTD
Duration: 30 months
Web site: http://www.hlrs.de/organizati on/pds/projects/damien
Contact person: Dr. Michael Resch email: [email protected] tel.: +49 711 685 5834 fax: +49 711 678 7626
Project participants: HLRS Germany EADS CCR France CEPBA-UPC Spain CRIHAN France Pallas GmbH Germany
Key words: GRID-Computing, Distributed Tools, MPI, Industrial Applications
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: GRIDSTART
Technical Approach Central part of the DAMIEN architecture are standards used by industry (i.e. the message-passing standard MPI), and libraries and tools, which the users of high performance computing facilities are familiar with. Based on these already existing tools (DIMEMAS, MpCCI, PACX-MPI, Vampir), DAMIEN defines the necessary extensions to support GRID-computing environments creating a software development environment for GRID-computing. The extensions can be split basically in three parts: Integration of an additional communication layer that has to be introduced to reflect the characteristics of distributed environments. Integration of Quality-of-Service (QoS) handling into the tools for enabling a flexible network resource management. Ease the usage of the distributed tools and distributed environments.
Testbed The toolbox developed in the frame of the DAMIEN will be validated on a testbed based on the European high speed networks between the three research centers of the project (CEPBA, CRIHAN, HLRS). The goal is to prove the usability of the toolbox with industrial applications on nowadays networks.
Application EADS CCR provides a multi-physics application. The application is a new strongly coupled method for vibro-acoustic simulation, which can be used e.g. to simulate the propagation of noise during the launch-phase of rockets or for noise-reduction simulations inside plane-cabins. Due to a high number of entities in the company and their geographical distribution all over Europe, this projects validates GRID-computing as a solution for industrial users.
Innovation Two major innovations are achieved within the DAMIEN project: First, the project provides the first development environment for end-users including standards, libraries and tools, which they are used to deal with from their regular working environment. Tools like Vampir, DIMEMAS, MpCCI are highly accepted in the area of parallel computing, and are now also made available in GRID environments. The second major innovation in the project is the integration of the Quality of Service module into the communication software as well as into the tools. Since the performance of GRID applications is strongly influenced by the network between different machines, the management of the network resources is a key issue for GRID environments and their applications.
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Abstract Several major international Grid development projects are underway at present both within the European Community, and in the USA. All of these projects are working towards the common goal of providing transparent access to the massively distributed computing infrastructure that is needed to meet the challenges of modern experiments such as the data intensive LHC (Large Hadron Collider at CERN) applications, as well as applications in other disciplines such as Earth Sciences and Bio-informatics. The DataTAG project will create a large-scale intercontinental Grid testbed that will focus upon advanced networking issues and interoperability between these intercontinental Grid domains, hence extending the capabilities of each and enhancing the worldwide programme of Grid development. The project will address the issues which arise in the sector of high performance inter- Grid networking, including sustained and reliable high performance data replication, end-to-end advanced network services, and novel monitoring techniques. The project will also directly address the issues which arise in the sector of interoperability between the Grid middleware layers such as information and security services. The advance made will be disseminated into each of the associated Grid projects.
Objectives The fundamental objective of the DataTAG project is to create a large-scale intercontinental Grid testbed involving the EC DataGRID project, several national projects in Europe, and related Grid projects in the USA such as GriPhyN, PPDG and iVDGL.
This will allow to explore advanced networking technologies as well as interoperability issues between different Grid domains..
Figure Simplified view of interconnections between the DataTAG partners, with some related 2.5 Gbps transatlantic circuits. The 2.5 Gbps DataTAG circuit between CERN and STARLIGHT will be used as a dedicated “bridge” between EU and US Grid projects.
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Project name: DataTAG
Duration: 24 months
Web site: http://www.datatag.org
Project participants: CERN Int INFN Italy PPARC UK UvA Netherlands
Key words: Grid Networks Scientific Research Telecommunications
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: DataGRID Géant Gridstart
Technical Approach The DataTAG project is organized into 6 Work Packages. Work Package 1 deals with the procurement and operations of the 2.5 Gbps circuit between CERN and the new StarLight Internet Exchange located at Northwestern University in Chicago. The circuit costs are equally shared between the EC and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) in the framework of NSF’s EuroLink award. In collaboration with GEANT and the National Research and Education Networks (NREN) involved, the DataTAG partners will have transparent access to the DataTAG circuit. Other related European Grid projects could also apply for such connectivity. Work Packages 2 & 3 deal with Grid related network research in the field of transport protocols, inter-domain Quality of Service (QoS), advance reservation techniques possibly using sub-lambda switching multiplexers, performance validation, monitoring, end to end user performance and application performance. Work Package 4 deals with interoperability between Grid domains. Work Packages 5 & 6 deal with Information dissemination, Exploitation plan & Management.
Testbed The DataTAG circuit will provide a unique testbed for advanced network research and demonstrations focusing, in particular, on very high speed single stream performance, QoS and advance bandwidth reservation techniques.
Work Package 4 will also use it to deploy real applications in different Grid domains in order to verify the interoperabilty and the scalability.
Applications Early data Grids applications, like High Energy Physics ones, characterised by intensive data access, from both sides of the Atlantic will be tested in an intercontinental context for the first time.
Innovation The DataTAG project has many innovative components as outlined below:
High performance intercontinental connectivity: establishing an intercontinental research network is the first step towards enabling testing of intercontinental Grids in a real-world high bandwidth context.
High performance networking research for the Grid: in order to best utilise high bandwidth intercontinental connectivity specific networking issues must be addressed. The DataTAG project will study which transport protocols are best suited to bulk data transport, mechanisms for the provisioning of Quality of Service and approaches to advance bandwidth reservation, across multiple domains.
Bulk data transfer and application performance monitoring: innovative monitoring tools are required to measure and understand the performance of high speed intercontinental networks and their potential on real Grid application.
Middleware integration and scaling: joining together Grid research efforts on both sides of the Atlantic is a fundamental requirement if we are to build global Grids. The DataTAG project will address those problems that arise (i.e. interoperability and scaling) as this is attempted for the first time.
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Abstract Grid Computing is an exciting buzzword in the computing world today. Here we define it to mean the exploitation of a varied set of networked computing resources, including large or small computers, PDAs, file servers and graphics devices. The networks could be anything from high speed ATM to wireless or modem connections. Exploiting these connected resources could, for example, enable large scale simulations not possible on a single supercomputer, aid computational work of geographically distributed collaborations, simplify remote use of machines, and enable the new dynamic application scenarios we propose.
Objectives Design and develop a Grid Application Toolkit (GAT), to provide core, easy to use functionality through a carefully constructed set of generic APIs. Enhance real applications for the Grid, implementing new dynamic simulation scenarios using the GAT. Develop and test Grid infrastructure and applications on real test beds.
Technical Approach Gridlab project’s infrastructure bases on the most advanced and widely used Grid software: (I) Globus Toolkit which is the standard grid middleware, providing tools for e.g. security, job submission and information services, and is associated with many large collaborative projects, (II) Cactus Code and Computational Toolkit which is a modular, collaborative framework for developing parallel scientific and engineering applications with is already widely used for Grid computing. Gridlab project aims to more tightly couple and extend these toolkits in ways that enable applications to be self-aware, of both their own varying computational needs and the changing Grid environment, and to respond and adapt appropriately. This will be achieved by using, extending, and building components, such as brokers, information servers, monitoring systems, that work with the applications themselves through a Grid Application Toolkit, connecting to basic Grid infrastructure software and hardware underneath.The Grid Application Toolkit (GAT), which will provide a core Grid-functionality trough a set of high-level APIs will be developed. The main purpose of our GAT is to help developers making their applications Grid-enabled. A variety of existing, resource intensive applications will be enhanced with the capabilities of the GAT, including Triana and applications already using Cactus. The applications will be tested and deployed on different testbeds to ensure grid interoperability. Finally, Grid infrastructure and applications will be tested on real testbeds, constructed by linking heterogeneous collections of supercomputers and other resources spanning Europe and the USA.
Testbed A European testbed will be established for developing and deploying GridLab technologies, and making them easily available to application developers and users. The testbed will provide the necessary environment for developing and testing software, which needs to work on the very different machines and operating systems, interacting with local policies, file-systems, security measures, schedulers and other variations. New tools to check the integrity and the state of the Grid from the user point of view will be developed and deployed.
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Project name: GridLab - A Grid Application Toolkit and Testbed
Project type: RTD
Duration: 36 months
Funding from the EC: 5.085.998
Web site: http://www.gridlab.org
Contact person: Dr. Jarek Nabrzyski email: [email protected] tel.: +48 61 8582072 fax.: +48 61 8525954
Project participants: PSNC Poland MPG Germany ZIB Germany MU Czech Rep. MTA SZTAKI Hungary VU Netherlands ISUFI Italy CARDIFF Wales GRIDWARE Germany COMPAQ France NTUA Greece
Key words: grid, toolkit, testbed, simulation,
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: DATAGRID EUROGRID Astrophysics Network
Expected achievements and results The generic Grid Application Toolkit (GAT) is the centerpiece of GridLab. It will integrate components for resource management, resource, application and performance monitoring, information services, and data management. The work packages are designed to develop working and extensible examples for each of these components, and just as importantly, generic APIs that work not only with GridLab components, but with components from other projects. GridLab will be tightly connected to other projects, and to the GGF, to ensure compatibility. API's will be developed for all GAT components and layers, including Portals, applications and the underlying infrastructure (e.g. Globus services).
Applications Cactus Code and Computational Toolkit Testbeds with Portals deployed on them TRIANA workflow application
Innovation The GridLab project will significantly advance the current state-of-the-art by developing: key components necessary for application oriented Grid computing (resource estimators and brokers, platform independent portals accessible even from mobile devices, security infrastructure, monitoring tools, etc.); interfaces to functionally similar components developed by others, a Grid Application Toolkit (GAT), for both infrastructure and applications, enabling new generations of Grid enabled applications, innovative new Grid computing scenarios to dramatically increase the scale or throughput of possible applications.
All components will be tightly integrated and built on present state-of-the-art infrastructure and application tools, coordinated and co-developed with other leading international Grid projects and industrial partners, field tested by real application
communities on intercontinental testbeds and production environments.
Figure GridLab Architecture:
Abstract The GRID is widely seen as a step beyond the Internet, incorporating pervasive high bandwidth, high-speed computing, intelligent sensors and large-scale databases into a seamless pool of managed and brokered resources, available to industry, scientists and the man in the street. The potential benefits and social impact of the GRID are so great, that it is imperative to involve industry and the service-provision community at an early stage to ensure that the European economy and society can take full advantage of this revolution.
Objectives The central objective of the GRIDSTART Accompanying Measure is to maximise the impact of EU-funded Grid and related activities through the clustering of the currently funded projects and thereby enhance the potential of the new Grid technologies to benefit the people of the European Union. It will accomplish this through the consolidation of Grid technical advances, the identification of synergies between projects, the stimulation of early take-up by industry and commerce and by playing a full role in the setting of international standards particularly at the Global Grid Forum.
Figure
© 2002 The University of Edinburgh
Next generation networking is the key enabling technology of the Grid
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Project name:GRIDSTART
Web site: http://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk/ gridstart
Contact person: Dr. Mark Parsons email: [email protected] tel.: +44 131 650 5022 fax.: +44 131 650 6555
Project participants: EPCC UK CERN F CYFRONET PL ESO D FZ JULICH D HLRS D IT INNOVATION UK PSNC PL UCL UK
Key words: GRID CLUSTER
Collaboration with other EC funded projects: AVO CROSSGRID DAMIEN DATAGRID DATATAG EGSO EUROGRID GRIA GRIDLAB GRIP
Technical Approach Accompanying Measure projects, such as GRIDSTART, are designed to bring together a group of RTD projects in the same technical or business domain to share information, explore synergies and work together to ensure the resulting interaction with potential end-users is well-focused and that the overall result, in terms of advancing the Information Society, is greater than the sum of the individual efforts of the projects involved.
GRIDSTART is an ambitious accompanying measure which will make use of a wide variety of methods to achieve its objectives, including:
consolidating the technical work of the currently funded EU Grid projects; providing an effective and focused technical voice for these projects with respect to the establishment of standards and representation in technical forums at the European and global levels; supporting projects in exploiting the potential of their technical developments both within industry and EU research groups; establishing and maintaining effective targeted dissemination and awareness creation of Grid technologies and their application; establishing, maintaining and consolidating effective feedback mechanisms from potential users of the Grid; encouraging and supporting an active dialogue between different application areas to maximise the benefits of developments applicable across different sectors.
Applications Grid technology will transform the information landscape over the next decade. Each of the projects which form the GRIDSTART cluster has a number of application areas associated with it. These range from applications in the scientific domains of particle physics, bioinformatics, Earth observation and astronomy to applications in a wide variety of business and public sectors from the large scale automotive and aerospace industries to healthcare and new media. The primary result of the GRIDSTART project will be to ensure the successful and widespread dissemination of the results of these projects throughout their relevant sectors and beyond.
Innovation Grid technologies and their application are at the leading edge of applications orientated research networking today. Driven by the rapid advances in networking bandwidth and resilience over the past decade, a new domain of applications is being created which have at their heart pervasive, high bandwidth networking. Although still in their infancy, we can already see that many of these applications will not only provide seamless access to widely distributed computing and data resources but will also have a strong emphasis upon new methods of collaboration and the creation of virtual organisations. GRIDSTART will employ tried and tested methods to ensure this message reaches a wide an audience and also ensure that Europe is represented in a coherent manner within the international Grid community which is now emerging.
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