Sharing Infrastructure and REsources iN Europe

Memorandum of Understanding

SIRENE
Sharing Infrastructure and REsources iN Europe

sirene.eugrid.eu

for strategic collaboration on a pan-European Science Grid
for the advancement of science, research and development

Memorandum of Understanding

Between

Austria: Johannes Kepler University Linz for the Austrian Grid

Belgium: BELNET

Denmark: DCSC

Estonia: EENET

Finland: CSC – Scientific Computing Ltd.

Ireland: Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC)

Latvia: University of Latvia for the Latvian Grid (IMCS UL)

Lithuania: Vilnius University for the Lithuanian Grid

The Netherlands: National Computing Facilities Foundation (NCF)

Norway: UNINETT Sigma AS

Sweden: Swedish National Infrastructures for Computing (SNIC)

Switzerland: SWITCH/CSCS

Preamble

0. From a perspective of science and research, grids are becoming an increasingly important technology for the efficient and cost-effective use of shared resources, including high-end computing and storage systems.

1. Major countries (in size and GNP) within and outside Europe are making progress on establishing large national Grids, including high-end computing resources within such grids, in order to stimulate and facilitate science and research in their respective countries.

2. For smaller countries (in size and GNP), it will be more difficult to realise equally integrated and functional grids to the same extent as is taking place in the countries as referred to in 0.2.

3. Smaller countries within Europe realise the need for intensive cooperation in the field of Grid infrastructures and high-end computing in order to have a stronger impact on pan-European policies.

4. This group acknowledges organisations such as the e-IRG (e-Infrastructures Reflection Group) that are pan-European organisations which deal with policies on European Science Grid Infrastructures.

5. The pace of developments in Grids, e-Science and IT-infrastructures is very high, both in technology and in policies and requires action by the Parties to remain at the forefront.

1. Parties to this MoU

   1. The resources that are subject to this MoU will be referred to as the Resources in this document. The resources are elements of an e-Infrastructure serving the interest of science. All shareable resources are joined through the network. As discussed by the e-IRG roadmap, resources may be

      • People: Expertise, know-how, engineering, consulting, etc

      • Hardware: Computers, storage facilities, instruments (telescopes, satellites, …), sensor networks

      • Data: Collections, databases, archives, libraries, etc

      • Networking infrastructure

      • Middleware: Services, agents, portals, etc

      • Software and Standards

   2. The Parties to this MoU shall be nationally operating bodies which are responsible -formally or informally- for the provisioning, setup and deployment of Resources in their respective countries. The entities listed under 1.3 will represent their countries in this respect, and will be referred to in this document as the Parties. The entities need not be formally or legally appointed. The Parties are required to organize their representation inside of their respective countries.

   3. The Parties are:

      Austria: Austrian Grid

      Belgium: BEgrid

      Denmark: DCSC

      Estonia: Estonian Grid

      Finland: CSC – Scientific Computing Ltd.

      Ireland: Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC)

      Latvia: University of Latvia for the Latvian Grid (IMCS UL)

      Lithuania: Lithuanian Grid (LitGrid)

      The Netherlands: National Computing Facilities Foundation (NCF)

      Norway: Notur

      Sweden: Swedish National Infrastructures for Computing (SNIC)

      Switzerland: SWITCH/CSCS

      Contact persons for each of the Parties will be listed in Annex 1.

   4. The Parties mentioned in 1.3 together constitute the Sharing Infrastructure and REsources iN Europe (SIRENE) collaboration, hereafter referred to as the Collaboration.

   5. Extension of the Collaboration with other bodies will have to be agreed upon by all Parties, as listed in 1.3. Parties who want to join the Collaboration will need to make themselves known to the chair of the Collaboration.

2. Purpose and status of this MoU

   1. This MoU constitutes the formulation of a common view to achieve the goals set regarding the development and deployment of Resources, and to cooperate at the highest possible level. As such this MoU is a best-effort agreement between the Parties and not a legally binding document.
   2. While the Parties are aware of the diversity of projects in Europe and beyond concerning Resource sharing, this MoU does not constitute a project, but a long term relationship and framework for cooperation.
   3. The MoU as described in article 2.2 could provide the basis for mediating potential conflicts between the Parties.

3. The aims of the Collaboration

   1. The Collaboration’s scope is the world wide grid and computing resources infrastructure within which it aims to set an outstanding example of cooperative efforts and tangible results. The Collaboration makes an effort to disseminate the results to a wide audience.
   2. The Parties within the Collaboration value highly the importance of good IT-infrastructures in support of science and research at the national and European level and seek to establish, maintain and develop such infrastructures.
   3. The Parties within the Collaboration agree to form a pan-European group and policy framework for strong cooperation towards the initial setup and deployment of interoperable Grid infrastructures. Whereas interoperability is key to the whole infrastructure, parties are prepared to review the basic principles of the employed Grid technologies if this is considered necessary for a sustainable infrastructure, robust for the future.
   4.  
   5. The Parties within the Collaboration agree to inform each other on the developments and plans with respect to Resources in their countries on a national level.
   6. The Parties within the Collaboration intend to develop their national plans such that integration and exchange of Resources between Parties within the Collaboration can be established as smoothly as possible.
   7. The Parties within the Collaboration will have the intention that the Collaboration will, in mutually agreed topics, act as a representative of its Parties in discussions on a European level with respect to the overall Resources.
   8. The Collaboration is a major catalyst for new collaborative projects.
   9. The Collaboration intends to adhere to the policies set by the bodies like the e-IRG, and will focus on the practical consequences of these policies for the Parties. However, this adoption is not automatic: the Collaboration reserves the right to set its own rules and policies on a case by case basis.

4. Organisation and meeting structure

   1. The delegates of the Collaboration will meet at least twice a year: in spring and in fall. If needed, more meetings can be organized.
   2. Each Party in the Collaboration will have the opportunity to send two delegates to the meetings as mentioned in 4.1.
   3. The Collaboration will have a chair¹.
   4. The chair may invite any additional persons or may allow requests for additional participants in the meeting to its discretion.
   5. The Collaboration will organise a yearly conference.
   6. The chair of the Collaboration will be nominated for a period of two years. Nomination of the chair will be based on consensus. If no consensus is reached the chair will be elected based on a qualified majority of the Parties, having one vote per Party.
      The chair can be nominated for more than one term. The first chair will be elected before or latest at the signing of the MoU.
   7. The chair is allowed to resign. The chair may be also replaced based on consensus by the Parties.
   8. The Collaboration will have a website.

5. Sharing of resources in the Collaboration

   1. Resources as described in 1.1 may be shared among the Parties and their registered users, to the extent that these facilities are explicitly made available to the Collaboration.
   2. In order to practically arrange the sharing of Resources as meant in 1.1, each Party will describe which part of its Resources will be made available for usage by registered users of other Parties within the Collaboration.
   3. Each party will make an inventory of shareable Resources, which will be made available through the Collaborations’ website.
   4. Parties within the Collaboration will (separately) agree on the common usage and trading mechanisms of the shareable Resources.
   5. Each Party will specify details (name(s), organisation) of the actual organisation (or organisations) in its country which will be responsible for the practical local implementation of Resources sharing within the Collaboration (to the extent the sharing is agreed upon).

6. Duration and continuation

   1. This MoU will be in place until December 31, 2008.
   2. The Collaboration will be evaluated in the second half of 2008, during a regular meeting of the Collaboration. During this meeting, the Parties to this MoU will decide on the extension of the Collaboration.

   Annex 1 Contact persons of Founding Parties

   Austria: Dieter Kranzlmüller (dk .AT.gup.jku.at)

   Belgium: Rosette Vandenbroucke (rosette.vandenbroucke .AT. belnet.be)

   Denmark: Jan Windmüller (jwi .AT.vtu.dk)

   Estonia: Lauri Anton (lauri.anton .AT.eenet.ee)

   Finland: Kimmo Koski (kimmo.koski .AT.csc.fi)

   Ireland: J.-C. Desplat (j-c.desplat .AT. ichec.ie)

   Latvia: Guntis Barzdins (guntis .AT.latnet.lv)

   Lithuania: Valdas Rapsevicius (valdas.rapsevicius .AT. mif.vu.lt)

   The Netherlands: Patrick Aerts (aerts .AT.nwo.nl)

   Norway: Jacko Koster (jacko.koster .AT.uninett.no)

   Sweden: Sverker Holmgren (sverker.holmgren .AT. it.uu.se)

   Switzerland: Marie-Christine Sawley (sawley .AT.cscs.ch)

    

   (The .AT. to be replaced by @ to get the proper email addresses)

   Signature page

   Austria: Dieter Kranzlmüller

   Belgium: Rosette Vandenbroucke

   Denmark: Jan Windmüller

   Estonia: Lauri Anton

   Finland: Kimmo Koski

   Ireland: J.-C. Desplat

   Latvia: Guntis Barzdins

   Lithuania: Valdas Rapsevicius

   The Netherlands: Patrick Aerts

   Norway: Jacko Koster

   Sweden: Sverker Holmgren

   Switzerland: Marie-Christine Sawley Christoph Witzig

1 The function of chair may be filled by more than one person at the same time.