Feature - BiG Grid’s big idea With the EGI Technical Forum
coming up next week, iSGTW thought ths would be a good time to
learn more about one of the Forum’s sponsors, BiG Grid. Modern
detectors, medical imaging instruments and micro-arrays produce
huge volumes of data, far beyond the storage capacities of
conventional computing — thus calling for ever-increasing
enlargement of infrastructure. To help solve this problem, the
Netherlands-based BiG Grid project is turning to the grid as a
place to combine data, analyze it and allow scientists to
conduct research in a wide range of disciplines. BiG Grid is a
collaborative effort between Nikhef (the National Institute for
Sub-atomic Physics), NBIC (Netherlands Bioinformatics Center)
and NCF (the National Computing Facilities foundation). “Our
goal is to build and roll-out a nationwide, grid-based,
e-science infrastructure,” said Arjen Van Rijn, chairman of the
BiG Grid executive team. However, while areas like particle
physics make clear demands of the infrastruc