Grid Deployment Experiences: Grid Interoperation

Over recent years a number of Grid projects have emerged which have built Grid infrastructures that are now the computing backbones for various user communities. A significant number of these communities are limited to one Grid Infrastructure due to the different middleware and operations procedures used. Grid Interoperation is trying to bridge these differences and enable Virtual Organizations to access resources independent of the Grid project affiliation. Building upon the experiences the authors have gained while working on interoperation between EGEE and various other Grid infrastructures as well as through co-chairing the Grid Interoperation Now (GIN) efforts of the Open Grid Forum (OGF), this paper gives an overview of Grid Interoperation and describes various methods that can be used to connect Grid Infrastructures. The case is made for standardization in key areas and why the Grid community should move more aggressively towards standards.