WebCom-G: Grid enabled metacomputing

Current Grid enabling technologies consist of stand-alone architectures. A typical architecture provides middleware access to various services at different hierarchical levels. Services exposed at these levels may be leveraged by the application programmer. However, the level at which the service appears in the hierarchy determines both its richness and the complexity of its use. Thus, benefits gained by using these services are defined by the manner in which they are accessed. Generally, choosing to use a particular middleware service inclines the application programmer to use the associated middleware suite as it is difficult to cherry-pick services across middlewares. Interoperability and independent service access are not easily facilitated in current middlewares. WebCom-G is a fledgling Grid Operating System, designed to provide independent service access through interoperability with existing middlewares. This paper presents an overview of the WebCom-G Operating System and describes the WebCom-G Information System and WebCom-G's mechanism for executing Globus tasks.