Public computing grid offered by West Virginia foundation

Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 13, 2005 by Ronald Roach

FAIRMONT, W. VA.

The West Virginia High Technology Consortium (WVHTC) Foundation has announced the availability of the Global Grid Exchange, one of the first open public computing grids. Marking this unique "initial public offering," a launch event was held at the WVHTC Foundation headquarters last month.

The Global Grid Exchange harnesses the power of the Internet to aggregate the idle or unused computer processing resources throughout the state of West Virginia. With access to state resources, from PCs to mainframes, the Global Grid Exchange can deliver power--on demand--to any desktop computer over the Internet, creating a cost-effective computation infrastructure expected to drive innovation in the commercial, government and academic sectors around the world.

Unlike other Internet grid offerings, the Global Grid Exchange is the only Internet grid computing solution sufficiently safe, secure and accessible to give users and developers grid access directly from their desktops according to West Virginia officials. Such open access allows users to submit applications and retrieve results without working through a third party that must review source code and submit applications on their behalf.

"With the launch of the Global Grid Exchange, West Virginia becomes the first state to offer an own public computing grid available for use by interested parties. This resource represents the type of economic development support that will accelerate new business opportunities across many industries and further differentiate West Virginia," said West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise.

Interested users and developers may download the grid's Frontier software development kit. Details are available at <www.globalgridexchange.com/>.