Middleware Technology to Support Science Portals

A SciDAC Program Project

A Science Portal is problem-solving environment that allows scientists the ability to program, access and execute distributed applications using "Grid" resources that are launched and managed from a conventional web browser and other desktop tools. In such a portal, scientific domain knowledge and tools are presented to the user in terms of the application science, and not in terms of complex distributed computing protocols.

The goal is to allow the scientist to focus completely on the science by making the Grid a transparent extension of the user's desktop computing environment.

The objectives of this project are

• Design a framework that allows encapsulating a grid application as an "active document" that can be easily shared with and deployed by collaborators.
• Integrate DOE-supported Grid technology with the emerging Web Services standards
• Integrate Web services and Grid technology with the Common Component Architecture (CCA) software component work of the CCTTSS SciDAC group
• Developt Peer-to-Peer frameworks that allow rapid deployment of collaborative applications

For more info, see:

• 2-Page Summary, March 2004 (PDF)
• 2-Page Summary, March 2003 (PDF)
• 4-Slide Presentation, March 2003 (PowerPoint Presentation)
• Executive summary: Middleware Technology to Support Science Portals: a Gateway to the Grid