SDCI NMI Improvement: Open Gateway Computing Environments - Tools for Cyberinfrastructure-Enabled Science and Education

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Science Gateways and portals are Web-based user interface and accessibility tools that provide user-centric views of cyberinfrastructure: they convert computing resources into tools for Web-based science and education. Although numerous production gateways have been developed, problems remain. How can operational gateways sustain themselves as underlying resources and middleware change? How can a gateway leverage modern commercial Web techniques like gadgets and social networking? How can a gateway wrap complicated science applications as robust services and workflows that really work in day-to-day operation? Can startup gateways reuse proven software from mature gateways and avoid reinvention? The research team addresses these problems through the Open Gateways Computing Environments (OGCE) collaboration, an integrated group of software developers and operational gateway providers. Key partner gateways include GridChem, GISolve/SimpleGrid, the Purdue Scientific Data and CCSM Gateways, UltraScan, and MyOSG. The goal of investigators is to provide high-quality implementations of software tools for Grid and Cloud-based scientific application management, workflow composition and enactment, and social network-capable gadget component management. The assembled team supports the full lifecycle of gateway software, from requirements gathering to operational use. This cycle is directly reflected in the project's structure. Feature requests, enhancements, and changes to the software are managed using the Apache meritocracy model. The team achieves long-term sustainability through participation in the Apache Software Foundation. Software developed by the researchers complies with relevant standards: scientific job management is provided through Web services generated by an application factory service; workflows are executed using open standards for enactment engines, and user interface components are compatible with the Open Social specification. Additionally the team investigates the extension of gadget components to the HUBzero framework.