e–Science and the Grid

What is e-Science?

"e-Science is about global collaboration in key areas of science, and the next generation of infrastructure that will enable it."
John Taylor, Director General of the Research Councils, OST

What is the Grid?

The Grid is simply a collection of internet enabled resources. These resources could be supercomputers, databases or scientific instruments. The location of the resource is immaterial because the resource is connected to the internet and can be accessed from any location on the internet.

The University of Southampton and the Grid

The University of Southampton hosts the Southampton e-Science centre as one of 10 UK e-Science centres within a national programme. As part of its continuing support for research computing, iSolutions has played a significant infra-structural role in assisting the regional e-Science centre and other interested research groups within the University to grid-enable their hardware and to provide and maintain, centrally, informational services which are critical to the smooth functioning of the Grid. The iSolutions Iridis cluster supports Grid access via Globus.