ADVANCES IN "EUROPEAN DATAGRID" PROJECT.

The EDG is a project financed by the European Union. It is piloted by CERN, together with five other major partners and 15 associate partners. It brings together the following major European research agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), the French national centre for scientific research (CNRS), Italy's national nuclear physics institute (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare or INFN), the Dutch institute for nuclear and high energy physics (Nationaal Instituut voor Kernfysica en Hoge-Energie Fysica or NIKHEF), and the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).

One of the main aims of the project, which was launched two years ago, is to go beyond the research and development phase and demonstrate a "production quality" computing Grid. Production quality means not just a proof of principle, but the deployment of a stable resource that European scientists can...