WLCG, EGI and SSCs

I'm sitting in the Project Management Board, which the External Advisory Committee members, Carole Goble and Eike Jessen attended today to give their feedback (very positive I might add) about the conference. Among their recommendations was the necessity they saw in dispelling "rumours" about WLCG's position with respect to EGI, rumours consisting in WLCG preparing a "shadow infrastructure". Keen to dispel all rumours of this kind, the WLCG project leader, Ian Bird, re-iterated a statement made in February this year which I repeat below on his behalf, hoping it will contribute to reassuring any concerned people out there :-)

I quote:

“The WLCG Overview Board strongly supports the creation of a European Grid Infrastructure based on National Grid Initiatives with a European level coordination. In particular WLCG will rely on the National infrastructures to provide operational tools and services for the Tier 1 and Tier 2 sites in each country, and requires a European coordination body with which it, as an application community, can work together on requirements and evolution of the services. The Overview Board also supports the concept of a Specialised Support Centre for High Energy Physics, and WLCG would collaborate with EGI.org in the setting up of such an organisation."