1. Kyriakos Baxevanidis Deputy Head Unit of Research Infrastructures European Commission, DG Information Society and Media Research Infrastructures Info Event, Brussels, 26-27 May 2005 eInfrastructure – Grid Initiatives - overview of Infrastructures-7 Call for Proposals -

2. Call information  Call title: Communication Network Development – eInfrastructure - Grid initiatives  Specific Programme: Structuring the European Research Area  Call identifier: FP6-2005-Infrastructures-7  Date of publication: 11 May 2005  Closure date: 8 September 2005 at 17:00 (Brussels local time)  Total indicative budget: € 55 million  Call Info: http://fp6.cordis.lu/infrastructures/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=209 Projects expected to be launched in Q1-Q2 2006

3. Objectives of the action (extracted from RI WP2004-6)  In general, the Communication Network Development scheme is concerned with the development of eInfrastructures for Research capitalizing on new computing and communication opportunities and will promote a further breadth and depth to the collaboration amongst researchers in Europe and beyond. In this context, broadband communication networks and Grid technologies are key; in general, they are also highly relevant to the political goals set out by the European Research Area and the eEurope/eEurope+ initiative and should be used as a means to enhance scientific co-operation with third countries.  Grids - deployment of advanced Grids-empowered infrastructures. These infrastructures should exhibit production-level performance capabilities and constitute themselves distributed facilities at gigabit/terabit scales (in terms of computing, storage, communication power). They should be able to provide basic common middle-ware services (requiring significant reengineering of the interconnect infrastructures) and will serve as common underlying infrastructures for a broad range of different research disciplines.

4. Serving a longer term vision of RI Unlimited access to Information Unlimited access to/use of Resources (ICT, instruments…), unlimited access to people Unlimited access to knowledge Mobility Multimodal interfaces, Cognitive systems Dynamically create, adapt R&D environment to his/her needs

5. Flexible control and sharing of distributed resources Promoting a new model of ICT infrastructures Developer view: abstraction, effective service creation Infrastructure-provider view: Integration, pervasive virtual organisations, streamlining and longer-term protection of investment End-user view: “unlimited” access to ICT-resources distributed world- wide, simplification

6. SEE-GRID A Grid infrastructure for SE-Europe Strategic building blocks of eInfrastructure today GÉANT. INFRASTRUCTURE GRID. INFRASTRUCTURE eInfrastructure EGEE production quality grid, 20000 CPUs, ~5PB storage, training, 27 countries, 71 partners, HEP, Biomed..., int. links (€32 M - CERN) GÉANT Pan-European Research Network, IPv6 enabled (93 M€ - DANTE) DEISA grid of 6 supercomputers networked at 1 Gbps, focus on global filing systems,>40 Tflop/s, several user communit. (€15M - CNRS).

7. eInfrastructure – what next? - consolidation, extension, deepening…  Consolidation  Sustainable resource provision, operation, support and training model  EU-wide AAA scheme, resource sharing policies  EU-wide Grid-SW testing and validation scheme; MW-repository  Interoperable, integrated infrastructures (clusters-supercomputers…)  Extension  New user communities (including industry)  Geographical extension  Deepening  Flexibly configurable, reliable end-to-end (optical) network provision  Intelligent, cognitive, dynamically adaptable RI…

8. Call objectives  Infrastructures exhibiting production-level performance capabilities and constituting themselves distributed facilities to operate at gigabit/terabit scales for use by a wide range of research disciplines  Address, integrate both supercomputing and cluster-computing concepts and resources  Address autonomous administration, demanding QoS requirements  Integrate access facilities and interfaces into core Grid- infrastructure environments  Support integration on eInfrastructures of Grid and Semantic/Web technological and business concepts

9.  Foster interoperability across different technology domains and interoperability of solutions across different research disciplines  Stimulate creation of standards; support open-service-provision and open-source solutions  Complement and add value to national Grid-initiatives; support creation of a network of regional/local Grid support centres  Connect to Grid-based infrastructures of other world regions; contribute to the creation of a global “Grid-based research space” (EU-funding, in principal, to European participants only; common actions with consortia outside Europe can be deployed; as an example, the currently open US-NSF DDDAS-Program is also promoting such collaborations) Call objectives  Emphasis on open infrastructures to all user communities  Infrastructures-7 Call: a stepping stone toward the provision of a persistent, sustainable and all inclusive operation, support and training model for Grid-based eInfrastructures

10. Call objectives – new actions!  Emphasis on initiatives to lead to production-quality and ready- to-use software for both science and engineering (e.g. for the testing, validation, certification of middleware) Examples of issues:  SW is an infrastructure (just as HW, networks) - this implies emphasis on robustness, functionality, evolution and persistence  Common rule of thumb is that it requires at least 10 times more effort to take proof-of-concept research SW to production-quality (in addition - for grid middleware - interoperability is essential and must be verified) – Paul Messina, Rome 2003  Successful SW-deployment requires testing, verification, packaging, distribution, customization, support…  SW development/deployment should be application driven  Maximize use/reuse of SW across diverse communities

11. Call objectives – new actions!  Address emerging industrial requirements in the context of the eInfrastructure Examples of issues:  Early involvement and collaboration of industry ensures: easier identification of value propositions technology transfer to industry whenever relevant more effective processes for management, development & support interoperability of different systems benchmarking ability to support lifecycle link to existing products/services  Higher engagement of commercial entities in eInfrastructure building, maintenance, standards, service provision is encouraged

12. Call objectives – new actions!  Support initiatives to lead to eInfrastructure environments dynamically adaptable to user needs and able to provide services and facilities on a demand basis Toward more intelligent Grid-based eInfrastructure environments highly adaptable to the changing user needs and requirements…

13. The policy dimension Users are interested in what technology can do for them not technology itself...  Equally important to technology development is the removal of administrative and social barriers that impact its widespread adoption  Efforts like the eInfrastructures Reflection Group (www.e-IRG.org) reflect the strong interest of the community to address these topics  The further strengthening and emergence of such efforts is encouraged Policy and social aspects are core elements of the eInfrastructure

14. Instrument: Integrated Infrastructure Initiatives (I3) Joint research (up to 50% funding) Three types of activity Service Specific (up to 100% funding, connect. costs 50%) Networking (up to 100% funding) Consortium Management funding up to 7% of Community contribution Funding aimed at upgrading a RI not building a new

15. Other instruments: - Specific Support Actions - Co-ordination Actions  To support complementary activities  Funding up to 100% for all activities (but check relevant “Guides for Proposers” for details!)  Consortium Management funding up to a maximum percentage of 7% of Community contribution

16. Contractual issues – important!  No Assistant contractors (FP5 contracts…) – new mechanisms, like the Joint Research Units and the Third Parties, in FP6  Additional rules on sub-contracting  Lightweight procedure for changes of the consortium does not apply in the case of I3, CA, SSA  Contract enters into force upon signature of co-ordinator and Commission (the other contractors sign up through an assession form)  Consortium agreement mandatory for I3  Autonomy in budget allocation & funding distribution  Collective financial responsibility

17. Key advice  Mobilise national, private, other efforts and sources of funding (strong competitive advantage)  Community funding aimed at integration of infrastructures, not building of new  Keep requested contributions for networking connectivity low - exploit GÉANT, NRENs  Focus on provision of infrastructure services to research community at large; separate calls for pure research proposals and for proposals addressing building of test-beds and wide- scale testing of specific technology  Make realistic budget estimations (lower scores for unrealistic budget estimations plus budget cuts)!  Only electronic submission of proposals!

18. For further information Research Infrastructures helpdesk e-mail : rtd-infrastructures@cec.eu.int e-mail : rtd-infrastructures@cec.eu.int EPSS helpdesk tel: +32 2 233 37 60 tel: +32 2 233 37 60 e-mail : support@epss-fp6.org e-mail : support@epss-fp6.org Our best wishes for success! Call text: http://fp6.cordis.lu/infrastructures/call_details.cfm?CALL_ID=209 CORDIS FP6 service: www.cordis.lu/fp6/ National Contact Points: www.cordis.lu/fp6/ncp.htm Background info (eInfrastructures): www.cordis.lu/ist/rn IPR helpdesk: www.ipr-helpdesk.org International cooperation: www.cordis.lu/fp6/inco/