European Commission funds grid computing projects

The European Commission is putting $63 million into research projects aimed at boosting the take-up of grid networked computing among its 25 member states.

The funding for 12 projects is designed to “bring grid computing out of research labs and into industry,” the European Commission said Tuesday in a statement.

Grid computing pools processing cycles from multiple computers to maximize capacity, memory, power and other resources distributed across multiple systems.

The bulk of the money will go to four projects. SIMDAT focuses on the auto, aerospace and pharmaceutical industries. NEXTGRID aims to develop a new grid networking architecture by the end of the decade. And while AKOGRIMO focuses on mobile communications and IPv6, COREGRID intends to bring together existing grid research communities.

Together with eight smaller initiatives, these projects will bring together dozens of European universities, research institutes and large and small companies to drive the development of grid computing, the European Commission said.