Published June 1, 2011 | Version v1
Journal article Restricted

e-Infrastructures for e-Science: A Global View

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Division of Catania, Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Via S. Sofia, 64, 95123, Catania, Italy
  • 2. Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Catania, Viale A. Doria, 6, 95125, Catania, Italy
  • 3. Meraka Institute, Building 43, CISR, Meiring Naude Road, PO Box 395, Pretoria, 0001, Pretoria, South Africa
  • 4. Centro Federal de Educaçãao Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca, Av. Maracanã, 229, 20271-110, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 5. Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa, R. Lauro Müller 116/1103, 22290-906, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 6. Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Division of Cagliari, Complesso Universitario di Monserrato, S.P. per Sestu km. 0.700, 09042, Monserrato (CA), Italy
  • 7. Department of Physics of the University of Milano Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza, 3, 20126, Milan, Italy
  • 8. Division of Roma Tre, Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Via della Vasca Navale, 84, 00146, Rome, Italy

Description

In the last 10 years, a new way of doing science is spreading in the world thank to the development of virtual research communities across many geographic and administrative boundaries. A virtual research community is a widely dispersed group of researchers and associated scientific instruments working together in a common virtual environment. This new kind of scientific environment, usually addressed as a “collaboratory”, is based on the availability of high-speed networks and broadband access, advanced virtual tools and Grid-middleware technologies which, altogether, are the elements of the e-Infrastructures. The European Commission has heavily invested in promoting this new way of collaboration among scientists funding several international projects with the aim of creating e-Infrastructures to enable the European Research Area and connect the European researchers with their colleagues based in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In this paper we describe the actual status of these e- Infrastructures and present a complete picture of the virtual research communities currently using them. Information on the scientific domains and on the applications supported are provided together with their geographic distribution.

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
CHAIN - Co-ordination and Harmonisation of Advanced e-INfrastructures 260011
European Commission
EU-INDIAGRID2 - Sustainable e-Infrastructures across Europe and India 246698
European Commission
EUASIAGRID - Towards a common e-Science infrastrcucture for the European and Asian Grids 223791
European Commission
EUMEDGRID-SUPPORT - Sustainability of eInfrastructures across the Mediterranean 246589