Features:
INTERVIEW WITH JOYCE WILLIAMS-GREEN, WINSTON-SALEM STATE UNIV
By Alan Beck, Editor-in-Chief, HPCwire
HPCwire: In your view, what sort of technical enhancements would be most?
desirable for the Access Grid Toolkit and why?
JOYCE WILLIAMS-GREEN: Enhanced functionality of certificate services( i.e.
authentication security per sessions, authorization and security/privacy)
would greatly enhance the Access Grid Toolkit.
HPC: Do you feel that there should be separate Grid standards organizations
for the research and commercial communities? Why or why not?
JWG: No, all Grid and Web service applications should be based on common
standards to facilitate the development of applications for research,
education and commercial uses.
I think using the Linux model for Grid development would will facilitate more
research, more development more applications and create new markets.
HPC: Is Europe ahead of the United States on Grid technology and
implementation? What is the best approach for gaining better international
cooperation for Grid development without compromising security?
JWG: It is my sense that they are. I think work on common standards will gain
better international cooperation for Grid development.
HPC: What will Grid technology look like in five years? What will determine
commercial winners and losers in the Grid niche?
JWG: I think Grid technology will look like current internet. There will be a
lot more sophisticated applications that will become common tools for the
masses. Business are currently using Grid technology to enhance productivity
and income. The lay community is beginning to see how Grid technology can
enhance economic development. For example the recent announcement of the North
Carolina Grid Computing Initiative.
This initiative is a collaborative project that involves, the University of
North Carolina System, the State CIO, the Director of the North Carolina Rural
Access Authority and a private enterprise MCNC. The project is designed to
enhance the bandwidth infrastructure of rural North Carolina, establish a
state Grid infrastructure that will be used for research, teaching and
economic development. The economic development aspect of the project is based
on a recent study completed by Dr. Robert Cohen of Cohen Communications Group
in New York.
Dr Cohen: "... projects that high performance Grid computing and Web services
applications would contribute the following gains to North Carolina's economy
over 2010 baseline growth forecast:
An additional $10.1 billion in output
An additional $1.5 percent in aggregate labor productivity
An additional $7.2 billion in personal income
An additional 24,000 jobs, the net result of 55, 700 new jobs created from
increased industrial growth and 31, 700 jobs lost due to the adoption of new
Grid and Web services technologies and downsizin
An additional $1.2 billion in expenditures for communications services, 80 to
90 percent of the new spending devoted to the purchase of broadband access."
It is these kinds of initiatives that will help all publics begin to
understand the value of Grid computing to our future. One speaker during a
recent North Carolina Grid Initiative Forum likened Grid technology to the
invention of the printing press. I do not think that this is an exaggeration.
Research and Development for economic development, education, and training
will grow because businesses like pharmaceutical, auto industries, etc. are
already using research and enterprise Grids to enhance productivity and
income. For example, a local pharmaceutical company here in Winston-Salem,
Targacept, recently worked with Noregon Systems Inc, using the freeware Grid
tool Condor, set up a Grid of 4700 Pentium 4 processors with 256 MB RAM
machines from the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public School System to do
state-of-the-art molecular simulation, offering hope for dramatic reductions
in the cost of drug discovery. So you see partnerships like this can drive the
implementation of Grids in all walks of life for diverse applications.
HPC: Are there any other important points our readers should know?
JWG: As our broadband access increases, so will the access and uses of Grid
computing. I see Grid technology changing the way that we view the world.
Hence, educational institutions K- 20 must prepare computer and communications
professionals to use these new technologies
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