The European Commission has made a £35.4m grant towards
12 projects designed to bring grid networked computing "out of
research labs and into industry".
The payment follows an initial £22m grant made in April "to create
a service grid infrastructure across Europe and potentially
internationally for scientific research", the EC said.
Grid technology allows organisations to concentrate computing power
by linking clusters of networked computers.
This latest phase of EC support will bring together dozens of
universities, research institutes and large and small companies
from across Europe "to muster the critical mass of expertise and
resources necessary to trigger change", the EC said.
The projects will focus on the development of underlying
technologies and interoperability standards and also the enabling
technologies needed for real-world applications, such as modelling,
simulation, data mining and collaborative working tools.
Core EC's grid computing projects
- Simadat: A project to develop generic technologies for the
automotive, aerospace and pharmaceutical industries
- Nextgrid: Will deliver a new grid architecture tailored to
business and industry requirements by the end of the decade
- Akogrimo: Will build on Europe's strengths in mobile
communications and the next-generation network protocol IPv6
- Coregrid: Existing grid research communities will be brought
together under virtual "centres of excellence" and joint research
programmes.