MIMOS’ KNOWLEDGEGRID MALAYSIA NOW PART OF THE EUROPEAN GRID NETWORK

KnowledgeGRID Malaysia certified by European Commission’s Enabling Grid for E-Science (EGEE)

KUALA LUMPUR, 15 MAY 2008 ­– MIMOS today announced that KnowledgeGRID Malaysia (formerly known as National Grid Computing) is now part of the European Grid Network infrastructure following the production certification by the European Commission’s Enabling Grid for E-Science (EGEE).

“KnowledgeGRID Malaysia is the only Malaysian grid site certified under the European Commission. It is testimony from a world organisation that KnowledgeGRID Malaysia meets the production quality standards of the European grid infrastructure,” said Thillai Raj, head, Grid Computing Cluster, MIMOS.

KnowledgeGRID Malaysia underwent a rigorous three months of setup and testing in terms of precise assessment algorithms, security, performance, and data fidelity compatibility before it was certified to join the European network infrastructure.

KnowledgeGRID Malaysia’s performance quality will be constantly reassessed to ensure it meets the standards of the European grid.Developed by MIMOS, KnowledgeGRID Malaysia is a grid computing platform that enables secure, dependable, consistent, pervasive and inexpensive access to computational and data capabilities nationwide. It is an initiative under the Ninth Malaysia Plan aimed at making a national information technology utility service for research, education and commercial purposes a reality.

Funded by the European Commission, EGEE project, is the flagship Grid infrastructure project of the European Commission, aimed at building on recent advances in grid technology and developing a service grid infrastructure access to major computing resources, independent of geographic location, which is available to scientists and researchers in academia and industry 24 x 7.

Grid Computing Conference

The Grid Computing Conference (GCC) – the first in Malaysia – in conjunction with the 16th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2008 was launched today by Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili. The two-day event attracted 300 local and international delegates.

Hosted by MIMOS, GCC was designed to take Malaysia’s grid adoption to the next level and to foster closer collaborations between local and international grid players and experts through the sharing of experience on grid projects such as animationGRID, automotiveGRID, bioGRID, and Malaysian Digital Islamic Resource Center (MyDIRECT) aimed at accelerating grid adoption in Malaysia.

GCC highlighted KnowledgeGRID Malaysia (formerly known as National Grid Computing) initiatives and how it can enhance local industries and enterprises; market trends; and grid computing in private and public sector across Asia. The conference also discussed how grid computing can bridge the digital divide, improve national productivity and societal well-being in Asia.

“With grid computing, industries will become more agile and competitive while at the same time being able to keep research and development costs down. KnowledgeGRID Malaysia meets all computing needs and as such industries will be able to utilise the bulk of their IT budgets for other aspects of product development,” Raj said.

Among the invited high-profile keynote speakers were Dr Craig Lee, President, Open Grid Forum (OGF), USA; and Professor Dr Wolfgang Gentzsch, Chairman, German D-Grid. Other distinguished speakers included grid experts from Oracle, SGI, IBM, Cisco, and Altair Engineering, all of whom are partners of MIMOS.

Dr. Craig Lee who is currently a Senior Scientist in the Computer Systems Research Department of The Aerospace Corporation, a non-profit, federally funded research and development centre, was named President of the Open Grid Forum (OGF) in October 2007. Dr. Lee is also the Steering Committee co-Chair for Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid). Dr Wolfgang Gentzsch is coordinator of the German D-Grid Initiative, adjunct professor at Duke University and visiting scientist at Renaissance Computing Institute at UNC Chapel Hill, North Carolina as well as member of the US President's Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.