More than 100 attendees have taken part in the third European Grid Initiative (EGI) workshop, which was organised at CERN on 30 June, and followed by the EGI Policy Board meeting on 1 July. Discussions focused on the EGI Blueprint proposal prepared by the EGI Design Study, the purpose of which is to assess a possible model for the future sustainable Grid infrastructure in Europe and to get feedback leading to the final Blueprint that should be produced by September 2008.
The director general of CERN, Dr Robert Aymar, welcomed the participants emphasising the increasingly important role of Grids for science in Europe in many domains and in particular for CERN and its community. He underlined the importance of the ongoing and exceptional support given by the European Commission to European Grid projects and wished success to the EGI project in building on these achievements by establishing a sustainable Grid infrastructure.
The EGI Blueprint draft was presented for the audience by different members of the EGI Design Study team. Dieter Kranzlmüller, the EGI Design Study project director, stressed in his overview the need for a sustainable European Grid infrastructure. Grid users need to be assured that their investment in Grids and long-term perspectives in the field will be protected.
The EGI will include both the EGI organisation and National Grid Initiatives (NGIs), which are recognised national bodies that ensure operations of the Grid infrastructure in each country. The role of the EGI organisation will be to facilitate interaction and collaboration between the NGIs and to provide a common managerial framework for the pan-European Grid infrastructure.
