STFC Knowledge Exchange Service Alex Efimov Opportunities for Technology Transfer in Grid Computing

Grid Technology Provides Solution  Grid is widely used in Particle Physics and Astronomy  STFC supports:  WLCG  GridPP  Astrogrid  Relatively high level of technology readiness: gLite is deployed on a large number of nodes

Consultancy to Software Vendors Network Layer Resource Layer Middleware Layer Serviceware Layer Massive data transfers > 1.5 GB/s Grid infrastructure: CPU and storage Application Layer GANGA WISDOM Industry needs more business oriented applications and service on Grid

Grid Market  According to The INSIGHT Research Corporation, worldwide grid spending is expected to grow from $714.9 million in 2005 to approximately $19.2 billion in 2010, as shown in Figure below. GRID COMPUTING, A VERTICAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE , The INSIGHT Research Corporation February 2005 Grid CAGR Spending, Bn $$1.84 $3.89 $8.51 $12.21 $19.28 $ %

Need for Knowledge Exchange Support  High costs of establishing a partnership  Differences between scientific and business cultures  Insufficient level of market level readiness  Lack of skills and experience  Equity gap STFC helps to overcome the following problems

Case Study: Imense Ltd. Content Based Image Retrieval

Case Study: Imense Ltd. Content Based Image Retrieval Searches images without annotations Finds images that Google doesn’t Allows complex queries

STFC KES helped Imense to develop its technology:  Introduced Imense to Professor Andy Parker (e-Science Centre, University of Cambridge)  Helped to set up a collaborative project  Provided funding through a Mini-PIPSS grant  Provided access to the GridPP infrastructure Outcomes:  Demonstrated search over a sample of 3m images  Private investment into Imense of £535k Collaborative Project Model

Econophysica Ltd  A start-up company set up by particle physicists  Provides services to financial industry:  Development of pricing and hedging models  Development of risk- management systems (Cash flow at risk, etc)  Research in new methods of quantitative finance (wavelets, analytical approximations, etc)  Development of bespoke software Case Study: Econophysica

STFC KES helps Econophysica to develop a Grid based algorithmic trading platform:  Introduced Econophysica to Professor Steve Lloyd (Queen Mary, University of London)  Helped to set up a collaborative project  Provided funding through a Mini-PIPSS grant  Provided access to the GridPP infrastructure Outcomes:  Expected next year… Case Study: Econophysica

PIPSS Features  Maximum STFC contribution: £125k per year  Maximum project duration: 3 years  Calls: quarterly  Maximum STFC contribution : £110k per year  Maximum project duration: 12 months  Calls: applications may be submitted at any time Mini-PIPSS Features PIPSS

Conclusions  STFC proactively supports technology transfer  Grid computing is one of our priorities  Support schemes are available for both academic and industrial organisations  STFC KITE Club helps to find partners for collaborative projects and apply for STFC funding  Please be creative and send us your ideas regarding Grid technologies

 Questions? The End