Oleg Lodygensky from the Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire in Orsay, Paris announced the first release of XtremWeb-HEP 8.  This version allows the deployment of virtual machines over desktop grid. The release is available at
http://www.xtremweb-hep.org/spip.php?rubrique15. The documentation is available at http://www.xtremweb-hep.org/spip.php?rubrique16 and a video tutorial at http://www.xtremweb-hep.org/spip.php?article233.

Desktop Grid resources can now be officially accessed as part of the German D-Grid infrastructure through UNICORE interfaces.  The European Desktop Grid Initiative EDGI will therefore organize a two days’ workshop from March 1st to March 2nd at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz to give an introduction on how to build up Desktop Grids and how to port applications to be used in Desktop Grids.

Outline of the programme:
Day 1 - 1st March:
- An introduction to Desktop Grids, EDGI and IDGF - presentation
- A general introduction to BOINC - presentation
- Installation of a BOINC server/client - hands-on
- Application porting to BOINC (methodology, DCI API, GenWrapper) - presentation
- Porting applications with GenWrapper - hands-on
Day 2 - 2nd March:
- Porting applications with GenWrapper cont. - questions, answers - hands-on
- User interfaces (portals and command-line options)
- The EDGI infrastructure, bridging from g-Lite/UNICORE to BOINC - presentation
- Team work, consultancy - discussing and analyzing migration options of candidate applications - hands-on
 
Attendance at the workshop is free, but the number of attendees is limited to 30 people.

You can register for this workshop at http://desktopgridfederation.org/registration13

The Technical Advisory Board of the D-Grid GmbH - the major coordination instance of grid infrastructures in Germany, partner of the German National Grid Initiative - has officially approved to allow any German computing center to provide EDGI D-Grids as a D-Grid UNICORE computing resource. Therewith effectively any German scientist can use Desktop Grid resources as the other Service Grid resources, because of the transparency of the UNICORE extension. EDGI Desktop Grids have still to be provided inside the D-Grid security environment; but this will be coming soon.

On 22 November 2011, Steven Newhouse signed a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on behalf of EGI with EDGI, represented by Peter Kacsuk. EDGI is deploying desktop grid (DG) and cloud services for EGI heavy user communities. The project will provide a workflow-oriented science gateway to enable easier access to the e-infrastructure and establish the International Desktop Grid Federation (IDGF) to coordinate DG-related activities in Europe and to attract volunteer DG resource donors. With this agreement, the EDGI production infrastructure will be offered as a service for EGI and NGI user communities, “thus enabling and exploiting the possibilities lying within volunteer and institutional desktop grid computing for a wider scientific user community", according to Peter Kacsuk. At the same occasion, Peter Kacsuk also signed an MoU between EDGI and the e-ScienceTalk project, represented by Catherine Gater.

On 23 November 2011, the EDGI project will be presented in a poster at the RCUK Cybersecurity Research Showcase in London, UK.  The Research Councils UK (RCUK) has identified research into cybersecurity as a priority for its Global Uncertainties programme. This showcase event is bringing together UK academic researchers and problem owners to share information on current activities, issues and research programmes in cybersecurity.  The EDGI poster is showing how Desktop Grids and distributed networks can contribute to greater security in cyberspace.

The International Desktop Grid Federation is getting quite some exposure at SC11 in Seattle, Washington, November 12-18, 2011 at booth #2639 of the Hungarian Grid Competence Centre.  You can find the IDGF poster there.  For more explanation, IDGF-representative Robert Lovas is present at SC11 for MTA SZTAKI. MTA SZTAKI provides high level grid gateways, application porting support and turn-key solutions for grid users. As the project coordinator of several EU projects, its research and support activities focus on Desktop Grids, Clouds, and work flow interoperability.

A 1 year - renewable - position for a Post Doc is available at the INAF - Astrophysical Observatory of Catania, Sicily, Italy, to work in the HPC and Visualization Laboratory. The position is expected to start in January 2012. The applications should arrive at the Observatory no later than 9 December 2011. This post is for the SCI-BUS Project. SCI-BUS will create a generic-purpose gateway technology that will provide seamless access to major computing, data and networking infrastructures and services in Europe. DCIs represented in the project include clusters, supercomputers, Grids, Desktop Grids, academic and commercial Clouds. SCI-BUS will elaborate an application-specific gateway building technology and a customization methodology based on which user communities can easily develop their customized gateways. The framework will facilitate reuse and exchange of generic and application-specific gateway components not only among the project partners but also to other projects that use Liferay technology. The gross salary is 28,000 Euros per year that correspond to a net salary of about 1,850 Euros per month. More information is available at http://www.oact.inaf.it/weboac/concorsi_it.html under the item "Post Doc vacancy 70/11".