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by David McNabb

A group of five University of Maryland researchers sits in a partially cleared seminar room, their chairs casually arranged in a half circle facing a long blank wall. Projected along that wall are many computer windows, each displaying a video stream broadcasted live from several other seminar rooms much like this one. Microphones and sound systems in each room provide live audio feeds, enabling groups of researchers in each of these remote sites to discuss their research results as if they were all seated together in one space.

This is a typical scenario for use of the Access Grid, and now that the University of Maryland has completed installation of its first Access Grid Node, research groups here on campus are using the Access Grid to meet with colleagues at other universities, institutions, and labs scattered around the world without having to travel any farther than the new Computer Science Instructional Center (CSIC). Operated by the Center for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling (CSCAMM), the CSCAMM Access Grid Node marks the first step in a larger initiative to bring new collaborative technologies to our campus.

First proposed by OIT as an enhancement to the College Park research infrastructure, the University of Maryland Access Grid Initiative (UMAGI) has attracted interest not only from research teams seeking alternatives to expensive travel, but also from campus distance learning experts, educational technology specialists, and even performance artists. The initiative addresses needs of campus researchers, provides a test bed for experimentation in new collaborative and distributed applications, and leverages our efforts on the successes of the growing Access Grid community of distinguished universities, government institutions, and commercial supporters.

The Access Grid (AG) is an open-grid-based community using a platform supporting group-to-group collaboration based on open source software and tools incorporating multiple protocols, standards, and open interfaces. The AG community works to exploit existing collaborative technologies through interoperability standards and working relationships with commercial vendors. As an enabling technology, the Access Grid framework goes far beyond video conferencing or internet broadcasting in providing support for emerging paradigms of complex collaborative interaction.

As a strategy for building an Access Grid infrastructure on the University of Maryland campus, UMAGI targets existing highly collaborative research working groups, especially those that utilize high-speed computing and visualization at the core of their research, and whose productivity and effectiveness can be expanded by incorporating their software tools into the collaborative AG environment. Use of newly established AG facilities by faculty and students in the liberal and fine arts as well as other science and engineering fields is encouraged through special events and targeted experiments. Other groups within OIT are working to identify and develop applications beyond the CMPS and Engineering Colleges, especially in the areas of distance learning and instructional technology.

In late spring of 2003, with funding support from researchers, CSCAMM, CMPS, and OIT, inSORS Integrated Communications installed the full-size, production AG node facility, “UMD-CSCAMM” in the CSCAMM seminar room. The node is intended to provide reliable, turn-key service for regularly scheduled research working groups and special events. At the same time that the CSCAMM node was installed, construction began on a portable, development AG node facility based in OIT’s Visualization and Presentation Lab (VPL) in the Computer and Space Sciences Building. The “UMD-VPL/OIT” node was assembled in-house from off-the-shelf components, mirroring many of the specifications of the inSORS system. From time to time UMD-VPL/OIT may be moved between rooms in the VPL/FTC/4400 complex, or from the VPL/FTC/4400 complex to another location on campus, for experimental sessions, testing, or special events. UMD-VPL/OIT is intended to be used to develop and test new collaborative software and/or hardware, so it is not available for long-term regular event scheduling.

Installations of both nodes were completed early in the summer of 2003, with the first scheduled non-test events being held in July 2003. Official opening ceremonies were held on September 12, 2003. Events planned for the CSCAMM node include working group research meetings, collaborative meetings between UMD researchers, Boston University Center for Space Physics, and Dartmouth College Physics and Astronomy, as well as distance learning experiments with the VPL/OIT node. Events planned for the VPL/OIT node include feasibility studies for several Astronomy research groups, Deep Impact Project working groups, remote collaborative performances at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and human factors studies on alternative AG display technologies.

To become involved in UMAGI activities or to request additional information, please see the UMAGI Web site at www.vpl.umd.edu/UMAGI, or send e-mail to accessgrid@vpl.umd.edu. For UMD-CSCAMM AG node scheduling and event information, see the CSCAMM Web pages at www.cscamm.umd.edu.

For a partial list of locations world-wide which have or are planning to install Access Grid nodes, visit the Access Grid home page at www.accessgrid.org.

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