NMI: Disseminating and Supporting Middleware Infrastructure: Engaging and Expanding Scientific Grid Communities

2001年，建立了网格研究、集成、开发和支持(GRDS)中心，以定义、开发、部署和支持集成的国家中间件基础设施。该提案旨在扩展这项工作，以(1)扩大交付的中间件的范围和功能；(2)接受和扩展新兴的开放网格服务体系结构(OGSA)标准；(3)扩大支持的社区范围；以及(4)在中间件方面建立国际共识。与GC1一样，网格中心2(GC2)将严重依赖开放协议和开源实施，并将与包括NSF高级计算基础设施伙伴关系(PACI)、国家大气研究中心(NCAR)、匹兹堡超级计算机中心(PSC)和Internet2在内的主要美国项目密切合作，以接触其他用户社区并解决与校园基础设施的集成问题。该提案详细说明了一项战略，即在牢固的企业关系的基础上，积极将相关技术转变为标准和行业。该提案强调传播和支持这一国家中间件，并强调与科学界的接触。该提案的具体目标是：1)开发和部署可扩展的联合支持、错误跟踪和软件交付服务。2)提高软件发布、支持和培训的质量。3)扩展到社区，目标是确保早期采用者用户社区取得成功，并使新的用户社区融入基础设施的使用。4)利用私人投资改善计划在运作生产设施方面的悠久历史，发展工具和程序，以确保所产生的软件在不同的环境中均可接受、可部署和可支援。建议的活动具有重大的知识价值，并会为社会带来广泛的利益。网格的领导层和员工都很有资格，在网格中间件的开发和部署方面建立了领导地位。这些活动处于前沿，但它们对研究/教育领域和其他领域的技术用户具有真实和直接的影响。网格中心的更广泛影响已经相当大，IBM、惠普和甲骨文等十多家领先公司已承诺在其网格产品中构建我们的技术。GC2将更加重视这些外展工作，以网格领导层正在推动的OGSA新兴标准为中心。

In 2001, the Grid Research, Integration, Development and Support (GRIDS) Center was established to define, develop, deploy, and support an integrated national middleware infrastructure. This proposal seeks to extend this work to (1) broaden the scope and capabilities of the middleware delivered; (2) embrace and extend emerging Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) standards; (3) expand the range of communities supported; and (4) establish international consensus in middleware. GRIDS Center 2 (GC2), like GC1, will rely heavily on open protocols, and open source implementations, and will work closely with major U.S. projects including the NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (PACI), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center (PSC), and Internet2 to reach out to other user communities and to address integration with campus infrastructures. The proposal details a strategy to aggressively transition relevant technologies to standardsand industry, building on strong corporate relationships.This proposal stresses dissemination and support of this national middleware, with emphasis on outreach to scientific communities. Specific goals of this proposal are to: 1) Develop and deploy scalable federated support, bug tracking, and software delivery services. 2) Improve the quality of the software releases, support, and training. 3) Outreach to the community with the goals of ensuring that early adopter user communities are successful and that new user communities are entrained in the use of the infrastructure. 4) Leverage the PIs' long history in running production facilities to develop tools and procedures to ensure that the resulting software is acceptable, deployable and supportable in a wide variety of environments.The proposed activities have significant intellectual merit and will bring broad benefits to society at large. The GRIDS leadership and staff are well qualified, having established leadership in the development and deployment of Grid middleware. These activities are on the cutting edge, yet they have real and immediate implications for technology users in the research/education domain, and beyond.The broader impact of GRIDS Center has already been considerable, with more than a dozen leading companies such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Oracle having committed to building on our technology for their Grid products. GC2 will see even greater emphasis on these outreach efforts, centering on the emergent OGSA standards that are being driven by the GRIDS leadership.