BEinGRID Presents First Project Results and Announces Next Two Million Euros Call for New Business Experiments

Today, the first project results and innovative Grid solutions were promoted at the European Services, Software and Grid Technology Days (ESSGTD) event organised by the European Commission with the support of BEinGRID. The BEinGRID project took this opportunity to launch a competitive call for additional Business Experiments proposals targeting industry and research organisations to provide, use and validate Grid technologies to meet business challenges.

BEinGRID is the European Union’s largest integrated project funded by the Information Society Technologies (IST) research, part of the EU’s Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP6).

During its first year of activities BEinGRID kicked off a first wave of 18 Business Experiments – Grid pilot applications focusing on specific business cases that address immediate customer needs and requirements. These Grid pilots are being supported by the BEinGRID core team through both horizontal technical and business experts.

According to Gregory Katsaros from ICCS/NTUA, who leads the “Computational Fluid Dynamics and Computer Aid Design” Business Experiment, « Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is currently the fastest growing segment in Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) simulation. The complexity and adoption of the technology is continually increasing and users have a latent need for access to scalable, cost-effective CFD. Grid-enabled technologies can fulfil that need by not only increasing the cost effectiveness but accelerating the uptake and application of more complex CFD. The National Technical University of Athens leads the consortium involving ICON, a Computer Aided Engineering consultancy company and OpenCFD, who provide development support for users of the OpenFOAM open source CFD toolbox. The aim of this Business Experiment is to develop a Grid-enabled solution for performing CFD design optimization and demonstrate the business potential. Realistic automotive and aerospace design applications highlight the reliability and performance of Grid enabled CFD. »

The overall project goal is to establish effective routes to foster the adoption of Grid-related technologies by European businesses and to stimulate the research into innovative business models using Grid-enabled service oriented infrastructures. The BEinGRID coordinator, Santi Ristol, from ATOS ORIGIN highlights « the importance of this type of project going beyond research and making a real impact on key European economic sectors. »

In order to enhance the take-up of Grid, the Gridipedia repository has been set up as public source of information on application of Grid technologies in business context. The Gridipedia website was officially launched during the ESSGTD event and is available at www.gridipedia.eu. Gridipedia will result in a “Grid marketplace” enabling individuals and organisations to create, provide and use Grid technologies to fulfil clients requirements.

As part of its second year of activities, BEinGRID is launching a competitive call to select new and relevant Business Experiments. The Consortium has allocated two million Euros for this open call and expects to select approximately five to seven new Grid pilots. The new Business Experiments approved by the Commission shall start in February/March 2008.

The case studies resulting from the first wave’s 18 Business Experiments as well as the newly launched Business Experiments will be showcased at the BEinGRID Industry Days event scheduled to take place in Madrid on May 20-21, 2008. According to Santi Ristol, « This major Grid event will be a unique opportunity to access high-quality content, real-world business case studies and best practices of Grid adoption. »