Coordination in Intelligent Grid Environments

Abstract

A computational grid is a complex system. The state space of a complex system is very large and it is infeasible to create a rigid infrastructure implementing optimal policies and strategies which take into account the current state of the system. An alternative to a rigid infrastructure is to base the system's reactions on logical inference, planning, and learning, the quintessential elements of an intelligent system. An intelligent grid is one where societal services exhibit intelligent behavior. A coordination service acting as a proxy on behalf of end users reacts to unforeseen events, plans how to carry out complex tasks, and learns from the history of the system. Various policies implemented by the societal services of an intelligent grid, such as brokerage and matchmaking, are based upon rules and facts gathered with the aid of a monitoring service. The question we address is how to construct intelligent computational grids which are truly scalable and could respond to the needs of a diverse user community. We present a prototype of a system used for a virtual laboratory in computational biology.