NEWS: Computer grid grows in power

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s grid computing system, comprising
several thousand CPUs in the main cluster at Mimos Bhd’s Technology
Park Malaysia headquarters, has been linked to a European
Union-supported grid called the Enabling Grids for E-SciencE (EGEE).

Mimos,
an applied research organisation, said its KnowledgeGrid gains a
substantial increase in computing power from the link up with EGEE,
which is made up of several clusters located in Germany, Britain,
Austria, Turkey, the Netherlands, Italy and other nations.

Researchers
in this country will also now be able to collaborate more efficiently
and easily with their counterparts in those foreign countries, thanks
to the larger computing grid.

KnowledgeGrid, added Mimos, can also cater to more users and projects.

According
to Mimos, KnowledgeGrid went through a three-month vetting process with
EGEE to assess its performance and security qualities recently.

“It had to meet several requirements, such as data fidelity, before it
got the green light to join the European network,” said Ng Kwang Ming,
Mimos senior manager for grid computing.

“It also had to achieve assessment algorithms precisely,” he added.

However,
the achievement will not stop Mimos from further improving
KnowledgeGrid because EGEE will continue to monitor its compatibility.

“It is not a one-off process. EGEE will constantly reassess the
performance quality of KnowledgeGrid to ensure that it is on par with
the European grid,” Ng said.

Relatively untouched

Despite its computing power, KnowledgeGrid is being under-utilised by Malaysian researchers and industries.

“There
are very few users on the grid now because many (businesses and
industries) still don’t understand how the KnowledgeGrid can help them
(in R&D work),” said Abdul Rahman Ahmad Dahlan, director of grid
computing at Mimos.

To tell more organisations about the
benefits of grid computing, Mimos is organising its inaugural Grid
Computing Conference (GCC), that will be held in conjunction with the
World Congress on Information Technology 2008 (WCIT 2008) here next
month.

Speakers from international bodies such as the Open Grid
Forum, German D-Grid, Pacific Rim Applications, Thai National Grid
Centre and EGEE, have been invited to present at the GCC on May 15-16
at the Palace of the Golden Horses in Seri Kembangan.

Luminaries
from the local academia and digital content industry will also share
with attendees their experiences with grid computing and how such
networks have aided their work.

Attendance is by invitation
only, but Mimos said it has selected its guests from a wide spectrum of
industries that would benefit from grid computing.

Abdul Rahman
said the GCC would also be a good platform for local scientists and
industry players to rub shoulders with their international counterparts
and to discuss various topics, as well as share experiences.

Mimos
believes that harnessing the power of grid computing will make
industries more agile and competitive, as well help keep R&D costs
lower.

“Industries would be able to keep the bulk of their IT
budgets for other aspects of product development because KnowledgeGrid
would meet most of their computing needs,” Abdul Rahman said. Mimos
expects the two-day conference to attract about 300 local and foreign
delegates.

Worldwide appeal

WCIT is a bi-annual
global ICT (information and communications technology) forum that
brings together global leaders in business, government and the academia.

Billed
as the Olympics of the ICT industry, it hopes to encourage global
economic and social development through the exchange of policies and
ideas on technology.

WCIT 2008 is scheduled to take place at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from May 18 to 22. For more information, go to www.wcit2008.org.

It
is jointly organised by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC)
and the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia
(Pikom), with the support of the Ministry of Science, Technology and
Innovation.

First held in Barcelona in 1978, WCIT is under the
patronage of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance
(Witsa), a consortium of 60 ICT industry associations worldwide.