Computer grid advocate celebrates a year of networking

International Science Grid This Week (iSGTW) celebrated its one-year anniversary this November.

A collaboration between Open Science Grid in the US and Enabling Grids for E-sciencE in Europe, iSGTW promotes the success of grid computing as a tool for scientists and researchers.

Able to complete in minutes what might take an average PC many months, grid computing offers scientists a new level of computing power that allows them to delve deeper into research questions with complex calculations. Grid computing works by networking many ordinary computers and using their combined idle processing time to churn through large calculations.

“Scientists are using grid computing to fight disease, develop new semiconductors and study the origins of the universe,” said Open Science Grid executive director Ruth Pordes.

“We're proud to support a newsletter that shares the exciting scientific breakthroughs that grid computing makes possible.”

With more than 3400 subscribers, iSGTW attracted over 70,000 visitors during October, an almost six-fold increase over the last six months.

“Grid computing is about more than computers,” said Bob Jones, Enabling Grids for E-sciencE project director.

“Grids can only work where there is cooperation and collaboration, between countries and between people. Efforts such as iSGTW only reinforce this integration, showing the close ties within the global grid community.”