Labs of the World, Unite!!!

: eScience is rapidly changing the way we do research. As a result, many research labs now need non-trivial computational power. Grid and voluntary computing are well-established solutions for this need. However, not all labs can effectively benefit from these technologies. In particular, small and medium research labs (which are the majority of the labs in the world) have a hard time using these technologies as they demand high visibility projects and/or high-qualified computer personnel. This paper describes OurGrid, a system designed to fill this gap. OurGrid is an open, free-to-join, cooperative grid in which labs donate their idle computational resources in exchange for accessing other labs' idle resources when needed. It relies on an incentive mechanism that makes it in the best interest of participants to collaborate with the system, employs a novel application scheduling technique that demands very little information, and uses virtual machines to isolate applications and t...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2006
• Where: GRID
• Authors: Walfredo Cirne, Francisco Vilar Brasileiro, Nazareno Andrade, Lauro Costa, Alisson Andrade, Reynaldo Novaes, Miranda Mowbray
• Keywords: Distributed And Parallel Computing, GRID 2006, Labs, Non-trivial Computational Power, Research Labs