EGEE-III Project Proposal INFSO-RI-222667
Executive summary
EGEE-III has two complementary objectives that are essential for European research infrastructures:
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To expand and optimise Europe’s largest production Grid infrastructure, namely EGEE, by continuous
operation of the infrastructure, support for more user communities, and addition of further computational and
data resources; and
To prepare the migration of the existing production European Grid from a project-based model to a
sustainable federated infrastructure based on National Grid Initiatives for multi-disciplinary use.
Background to EGEE-III
The Grid concept involves establishing an infrastructure that allows existing IT installations to connect and share
their computing power and storage capacities. For a wide range of applications, this enables dispersed groups of
users to collaborate on common challenges. This concept has been implemented in a variety of ways, including
'Capability' Grids combining supercomputers (e.g. DEISA), ‘Capacity' Grids, comprising clusters of commodity
computers (e.g. EGEE), 'Enterprise' Grids linking together resources of a single company, and 'Volunteer' Grids,
linking individual home computers (e.g. BOINC). Of these, ‘Capacity’ Grids offer a general purpose, dependable,
cost-effective and pervasive infrastructure, suitable for the needs of collaborative European science.
The concept of a European Grid Infrastructure emerged in 2000. In Framework 5, the EUDataGrid project and
related initiatives proved a European Grid system was capable of supporting different user communities. In
Framework 6, the EGEE project built on these results to establish a continuously available production quality Grid
infrastructure. Since 2006, EGEE-II focuses on consolidating the operating procedures, expanding the resources,
enlarging the Grid to more countries and attracting more user communities. EGEE-II has improved the scalability of
the Grid, and its reliability in supporting a wide range of applications.
EGEE has become a critical infrastructure for a range of top European scientific undertakings. Most European
countries have Grid infrastructures, at varying levels of maturity. A limitation of national Grids is their lack of access
provision to international science communities. Beyond the national level standards become important to allow ease
of connectivity and sharing of applications. EGEE ensures that the European Grid infrastructure does not fragment
into national and thematic Grid infrastructures, with less coherence at a European level. EGEE-III will provide a
world class, coherent and reliable European Grid, ensuring Europe remains at the forefront of scientific excellence.
Details of EGEE-III
The focus of EGEE-III is:
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To migrate the existing European Grid Infrastructure from a European co-funded project to a self-sustainable
infrastructure that is under the governance of national initiatives;
To ensure the continuous provision of a production quality Grid infrastructure to European eScience;
To expand the usage of the infrastructure in terms of new user communities;
To simplify the usability of the system for the end user;
To provide active contributions to standardisation efforts for adoption at European and International levels;
To work closely with businesses to ensure commercial uptake of the Grid, key to sustainability.
Expected Results and Lead Users
The foreseen results and main users of EGEE-III are listed below:
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Physical access to a world class Grid infrastructure for pan-European virtual research communities.
o Lead Users: user communities and countries joining the European Grid;
A Grid that is adaptable and scalable to different uses and applications.
o Lead Users: Research institutes, enterprises and large scale scientific groups;
Guidelines, procedures and tools for the integration of existing and new Grids into a sustainable European
Grid Infrastructure.
o Lead Users: National Grids and cluster Grids and large scientific infrastructures;
Reference open source middleware that adheres to key emerging Grid standards.
o Lead Users: National Grids and cluster Grids and large scientific infrastructures;
EGEE-III Project Proposal INFSO-RI-222667
Executive summary
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Study on the commercial potential of the Grid as a tool for applications and future potential products and
services.
o Lead Users: Enterprises, start-up companies, enterprise development agencies;
Migration strategy and gap analysis identifying developments required to implement the vision of a
sustainable European Grid infrastructure.
o Lead Users: Research policy groups (EU, National and Regional)
List of activities of the EGEE-III Project
Activity Number
Activity Title
NA1
Management of the Consortium
NA2
Dissemination, Communication and Outreach
NA3
User Training and Induction
NA4
User Community Support and Expansion
NA5
Policy and International Cooperation
SA1
Grid Operations
SA2
Networking support
SA3
Integration, Testing and Certification
JRA1
Middleware Engineering
Consortium:
The EGEE consortium consists of 43 beneficiaries, both academic and business. All EC co-funded countries have
grouped their academic partners on a national level via Joint Research Units or National Grid Initiatives so that the
43 beneficiaries represent a total of more than 120 partners. This has a structuring effect on the Grid communities
across the European Research Area and is an important milestone for the planning of a sustainable Grid
Infrastructure model. Beneficiaries are organized in regional federations, covering:
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Asia Pacific (Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan)
Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands)
Central Europe (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia)
France
Germany/Switzerland
Italy
Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway)
South East Europe (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Romania, Serbia, Turkey)
South West Europe (Portugal, Spain)
Russia
United Kingdom/Ireland
USA
Collaboration with additional countries in the Asia Pacific region (China, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (Armenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) is
also foreseen.
Duration: 24 months
EC Contribution: 32,000,000 €
Total Budget: cca. 47,150,000 €, with a further estimated 50,000,000 € worth of computing resources contributed
by the partners.
Total Manpower: 9,010 Person Months, of which over 4,500 Person Months contributed by the partners from their
own funding sources.
EGEE-III Project Proposal INFSO-RI-222667
Executive summary
EGEE-III List of beneficiaries
Beneficiary name
Beneficiary
short name
Country
European Organization for Nuclear Research
CERN
CH
Universitaet Linz
JKU
AT
MTA KFKI Részecske és Magfizikai Kutatóintézet
KFKI-RMKI
HU
CESNET Zajmove Sdruzeni Pravnickych Osob
CESNET
CZ
Ustav Informatiky, Slovenska Akademia Vied
II SAS
SK
Jožef Stefan Institute
JSI
SI
Akademickie Centrum Komputerowe CYFRONET Akademii GórniczoHutniczej im Stanislawa Staszica W
CYFRONET
PL
Sveuciliste u Zagrebu Sveucilisni Racunski Centar
SRCE
CR
Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie
FOM
NL
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
VUB
BE
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe Gesellschaft mit Beschraenkter Haftung
FZK
DE
SWITCH – Teleinformatikdienste fuer Lehre und Forschung
SWITCH
CH
Centrale Recherche S.A.
CRSA
FR
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
CNRS
FR
CGG Services
CGGV
FR
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
INFN
IT
Trust-IT Services Ltd
TRUST-IT
IT
Elsag Datamat S.P.A.
ED
IT
Helsingin Yliopisto
UH.HIP
FI
CSC - Tieteellinen Laskenta Oy
CSC
FI
UNINETT Sigma AS
SIGMA
NO
Ventenkapsradet
VR-SNIC
SE
Russian Research Centre Kurchatov Institute
RRC KI
RU
Greek Research and Technology Network SA
GRNET
GR
Institute for Parallel Processing of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
IPP BAS
BG
University of Cyprus
UCY
CY
Tel Aviv University
TAU
IL
Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare in Informatica Bucuresti
ICI
RO
Institute of Physics Belgrade
IPB
RS
Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu
TUBITAK
TR
Laboratorio de Instrumentaçao e Fisica Experimental de Particulas
LIP
PT
EGEE-III Project Proposal INFSO-RI-222667
Executive summary
Beneficiary name
Beneficiary
short name
Country
Institut de Fisica da Altas Energias
IFAE
ES
The Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen
Elizabeth near Dublin (hereinafter called TCD)
TCD
IE
The Science and Technology Facilities Council
STFC
UK
Delivery of Advanced Networking Technology to Europe Ltd.
DANTE
UK
Inter-University Research Institute Corporation, High Energy Accelerator
Research Organization
KEK
JP
Academia Sinica
ASGC
TW
Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information
KISTI
KR
Chonnam National University
CNU
KR
The University of Melbourne
UNIMELB
AU
Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
UWM
USA
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
RENCI
USA
BT Infrastructures Critiques
BT-IC
FR