New e-ScienceBriefing out today!

The EGI Technical Forum is now officially underway and it looks set to be an exciting week of discussion on grids, clouds, supercomputers and of course the science they're all supporting.

This morning Dominique Boutigny director of Lyon's computer centre, CC-IN2P3 (CNRS), spoke to us about how incorporating a cloud model into grid computing is a chance to reach out to communities who are smaller and less well structured than those in high energy physics. Clouds offer a chance to overcome difficulties in porting, complex middleware and the rigid hardware and software of grids. In fact there are a number of sessions this week looking into the EGI cloud policies for the future.

Another way to reach out to alternative communities is through desktop grids - which incorporate individual computers from people or organisations, contributing to scientific research. EDGI is the organisation to look at here - they're working hard to incorporate desktop grids into the wider EGI infrastructure.

Here at e-ScienceTalk we've been doing a lot of research into desktop grids in preparation for our next e-ScienceBriefing on that very topic. And as luck would have it, we're releasing our briefing - Desktop grids: Connecting everyone to science - right here at the Technical Forum. So if you want to find out more how desktop grids fit into the wider e-infrastructure landscape and how both scientists and citizens can benefit from the technology why don't you download a copy to read from the e-ScienceTalk website, or alternatively come and pick a paper copy up from the EGI stand.