published on Thursday, March 5, 2009

Amsterdam to host EGI.org

http://web.eu-egi.eu/news/

March 3, 2009
Amsterdam has been chosen to host EGI.org, the coordinating organization responsible for managing the European Grid Initiative (EGI). Amsterdam was selected as the host city at the last EGI policy board meeting in Catania on Monday 2 March 2009, ahead of seven other European cities that also expressed their interest in hosting the EGI Organization.

“The choice of the location of the EGI.org headquarters is a further and decisive step towards the implementation of a sustainable European grid infrastructure”, said Gaspar Barreira, chairman of the EGI Policy Board. “From now on we will be all mobilised for the real establishment of a new international research infrastructure in Europe, where a large number of countries will put together and operate the world's largest grid computing facility.”

"We are very honoured that the European grid community has chosen Amsterdam to host EGI.org,” said Patrick Aerts, Director of the National Compute Facility (NCF), the Netherlands, after the announcement of the decision. “We thank all EGI-Policy Board members, and especially our runners-up for the trust that they have placed in the Netherlands. This is of course a very positive result for the Science Park Amsterdam, The City of Amsterdam and NWO/NCF, which together represent the Netherlands Grid Initiative (NGI), but it is above all a shared EGI achievement.”

“The decision on the EGI.org location is another major milestone for the establishment of the EGI”, said Ludek Matyska, the EGI_DS Project Director. “With this decision, the European grid community, represented by the EGI Policy Board, confirmed once again its commitment to the EGI model as the future for grid infrastructure in Europe.”

“This decision comes just after the approval of the EGI Blueprint in Prague, on the 20th of January 2009”, added Jürgen Knobloch, the EGI_DS Technical Director. “We can now proceed with the transition strategy from EGEE and other Grid infrastructures in Europe to EGI”.

Within the EGI partnership, EGI.org and National Grid Initiatives (NGIs) will work together to operate and further develop a sustainable, long-term grid infrastructure, enabling optimal sharing of computing and data resources.
The main role of EGI.org will be to facilitate the interaction and collaboration between the different NGIs, and to provide a common managerial and operational framework for the pan-European grid infrastructure. Full operation of the organization will begin in 2010.

EGI.org, as the coordinating body, will be funded through membership fees paid by NGIs, with an expected contribution from the European Commission (EC).

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More information:

www.eu-egi.eu
www.eu-egi.eu/blueprint.pdf
press@eu-egi.eu

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The EGI Design Study (EGI_DS) project was launched in September 2007 with the support of the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme. The project will continue until the end of November 2009. According to current plans, the EGI Organization will begin its functions in early 2010. The EGI_DS has nine principal partners: CESNET, CERN, CNRS, CSC, DFN, GRNET, LMU, INFN and STFC, and is already endorsed by 39 National Grid Initiatives.