Extreme computing on the distributed European infrastructure for supercomputing applications: DEISA

Scientists' dream of accessing any supercomputer in the world, independentlyfrom time and space, is currently coming true, to perform even largerand more accurate computer simulations, at their finger tip. Today, high-speed networks transport data at the speed of light, middleware manages distributedcomputing resources in an intelligent manner, portal technology enable secure,seemless, and remote access to resources, applications, and data, and sophisticatednumerical methods approximate the underlying mathematical equations ina highly accurate way. With the convergence of these core technologies into onecomplex service oriented architecture, we see the rise of large compute and datagrids currently being built and deployed by e-Infrastructure initiatives such asDEISA, EGEE, NAREGI, and TERAGRID. With the aid of one example, in this keynote presentation, we will elaborate onthe Distributed European Infrastructure for Supercomputing Applications,DEISA, which recently entered its second phase. We will describe the system architecture,called the DEISA Common Production Environment (DCPE) and theDEISA Extreme Computing Initiative DECI attracting scientists all overEurope to use the networked supercomputing environment, and we will highlighta few impressive success stories from scientists who achieved breakthroughresults so far which would not have been possible without such an infrastructure.Finally, we will summarize main lessons learned and provide some usefulrecommendations.