The list of the twenty projects includes the following.

There are three types of projects: Integrated projects (IP), research proposals (STREP) and support measures (SSA).

XtreemOS (IP) seeks to extend the Linux operating system to Grid environments and virtual organisation contexts. It proposes to design, implement and evaluate a Grid operating system. Many results will be made available and supported as open-source.

BEinGRID (IP) seeks to undertake 19 business experiment pilots designed to implement and deploy Grid solutions in a broad spectrum of European business sectors. A knowledge and tool repository will also be developed consisting of Grid service components and best practices to support European businesses with the take-up of Grid. The proposed work will start with available Grid tools and then later bringing in newer tools and this should enhance the potential impact.

BREIN (IP) seeks to develop a user-centric Grid framework by applying agent technologies and semantic web technologies, with the aim of providing businesses with a means of deploying Grids to solve their specific business problems. The proposal will contribute towards closing the gap between high-level business security requirements and low-level security policies. Business management of Stuttgart Airport is addressed as an application.

KnowARC (STREP) develops a high performance, robust and easy to use Grid-based solution for know-how sharing between virtual organisations, based on the Advanced Resource Connector (ARC) middleware. The work focuses on building industrial quality, standards-compliant, interoperable Grid foundations for know-how sharing services for business and society. The work will be validated in applications in health care, genetics research, and simulations in the automotive industry.

AssessGrid (STREP) fosters the adoption of risk management into the Grid, focusing on the development and integration of methods, metrics and analysis tools enabling Service Level Agreement (SLA) negotiations. The proposal addresses risk awareness and management, self-organising, fault-tolerant actions and capacity planning, closing the gap between the development of SLAs as concept and as a widely accepted tool for commercial Grid uptake.

A-WARE (STREP) develops a stable and commercially exploitable technology able to give easy access to Grid resources via a web thin-client approach based on user-friendly interfaces, hiding the complexity of the underlying Grid middleware. The proposal is based on the Grid portal EnginFrame and on Unicore/GS technologies.

QosCosGrid (STREP) develops core Grid technology capable of providing quasi-opportunistic supercomputing (QOS) Grid services and technology that will enable users to develop applications with supercomputing requirements without the need to deploy supercomputers themselves. Validation will be undertaken in the application areas stellar dynamics and evolution, biochemistry, ecological evolution, gene regulation networks, and business supply chains.

GridTrust (STREP) develops the technology to manage trust and security for the Next Generation Grid from the requirement level down to the application, middleware and foundation levels. The work will focus on linking trust, security and privacy requirements with policies, trust and security.

GridEcon (STREP) addresses Grid business models and Grid economics, working on the development of solutions and extensions to Grid technology for economics-aware Grid applications so that Grid business models can be implemented. It will advance the state-of-the-art in the financial and economic aspects related to large-scale Grid deployment. The proposal defines micro-economic models for resource sharing across organisations and analyse new paradigms of accounting and settlement in the utility service model.

GREDIA (STREP) creates a platform for design and deployment of secure applications support for mobile devices to be integrated in the Grid. The work will advance the SYMBIAN mobile operating system to exploit Grid opportunities.

ARGUGRID (STREP) addresses the development of an agent based approach to the configuration and orchestration of resources and services in Grids environments. The work will provide a new model for programming the Grid at a semantic, knowledge-based level of abstraction.

SORMA (STREP) deals with the development of methods and tools for an efficient market-based allocation of resources, through a self-organising resource management system, using market-driven models supported by extensions for Grid infrastructures. Topics addressed include open Grid markets, economics-driven Grid middleware, and intelligent tools.

Chemomentum (STREP) seeks to develop a Grid services based environment to enable innovative research by providing a Grid-enabled work flow centric workbench to support decision making processes. Based on UNICORE enhancements, the work will focus on a workflow engine for execution of complex, multi-step, multi-site work flows on the Grid.

Edutain@Grid (STREP) focuses on the development of real-time on-line interactive applications, aiming at reducing the development and hosting costs, fostering business and societal uptake of the Grid. Applications in on-line gaming and e-learning will be used for validation.

g-Eclipse (STREP) aims to provide an integrated environment for Grid users, operators and developers on top of the Eclipse framework, and to allow for easy adaptation by new Grid applications.

Grid4All (STREP) will bring Grid computing to millions of users beyond the academic and industrial communities. It combines elements of peer-to-peer and Grid technologies in an open Grid middleware framework. Secure peer-to-peer techniques will be used to federate large numbers of small-scale resources into large-scale Grids. The proposal addresses the areas of autonomic software, Grid economics, and semantics.

GridCOMP (STREP) aims to develop a standard and domain-independent Grid component platform for developing efficient Grid applications, supporting dependability and security. Non-functional aspects will be covered that allow components to be seamlessly executed with minimal programmer intervention, thus implementing the invisible Grid concept.

Nessi-Grid (SSA) supports the NESSI European Technology Platform, a European Industry Initiative that covers the areas of Grids and Service Oriented Architectures (SOA).

DEGREE (SSA) is focused on Grid applications in the Earth Sciences domain. It seeks to support both Grid research and take-up through technical surveys, requirement analysis, and white papers.

CHALLENGERS (SSA) will create a consolidated vision for Grid technologies for the coming decade and develop a research agenda and a roadmap of key technology challenges in this area. Business, economic and societal impact, as well as the convergence with other technology areas will be assessed.

More information is available on http://www.cordis.lu/ist/grids/