SIENA brings together end-user and stakeholder communities in the distributed computing arena to ensure interoperability standards drive innovation in enterprise and eResearch. The initiative is aimed at playing an instrumental role in defining a future eInfrastructures roadmap in close collaboration with the European Commission, projects focusing on Distributed Computing Infrastructures (DCI) along with initiatives with a remit for interoperability standards funded by the European Commission, as well as Standard Development Organisations (SDOs) and their stakeholder communities. Working together, these groups will help deliver an in-depth understanding of how distributed computing is being developed in this context.

Last week, SIENA hosted a session dedicated to Engaging European DCIs Together in Brussels to pave the ground for successful alliances moving forward. The Session, along with a series of related meetings and Welcome Reception, was kindly hosted by Microsoft.

The session attracted not only leading representatives from six recently funded DCI projects but also representatives from several Units of the European Commission and  players in the grid and cloud computing landscape. A keynote on Advances in e-Infrastructures landscape & EC Expectations, was delivered by Kostas Glinos, Head of GÉANT and e-Infrastructures Unit, DG Information Society & Media, European Commission, while a second talk was given on Operational Aspects of DCIs by Enric Mitjana, Scientific Officer  GÉANT & e-Infrastructures, DGInformation Society & Media, European Commission.

The six DCI projects offering insights into their new projects include: EGI_InSPIRE (European Grid Initiative), European Middleware Initiative (EMI), European Desktop Grid Initiative (EDGI), Initiative for Globus Europe (IGE), StratusLab and VENUS-C. There followed a Q&A panel debate with insights from internationally renowned experts: Kyriakos Baxevanidis, GÉANT and e-Infrastructures Unit, European Commission; Geoffrey Fox, Indiana University; Yannis Ioannidis, University of Athens; Paul Messina, Argonne National Laboratory; Ignacio Blanquer, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia and Bernhard Schott, Platform Computing.

Website: SIENA Initiative, linking to Engaging European DCIs Together session overview and a Virtual Goody Bag with information on all the projects in attendance, keynotes and talks.