TC GRID Ironed Out by ETSI

ETSI has announced the creation of a new Technical Committee (TC) GRID to produce interoperability standards, contributing to the global progress of GRID – a grid for the connection, sharing and utilization of information technology resources. TC GRID will be responsible for ETSI’s contribution to Information Technology and Telecommunications convergence standards in the GRID domain and the work will start with the writing of test specifications and progress towards a broader range of GRID standards to integrate the use of telecommunications infrastructures in networked computing.

ETSI brings a long history of partnership experience to the GRID standards community and one of the most important aims of the group will be to reinforce the already strong links between ETSI Members and existing GRID players. TC GRID will work closely with existing European Commission projects and other groups, such as the Open Grid Forum, which holds a formidable level of members drawn from both industry and the research community.

Mike Fisher, who will Chair the ETSI GRID Committee at its inaugural meeting to be held on September 18, 2006, in Brussels, commented, “ETSI’s approach and neutral environment provide the perfect complement to the progress being made in existing standards development bodies. It can address a real need for more formal standards and test specifications which will ensure the interoperability needed for GRID to prosper in next generation networks.”