# Presentation: 720662

## The Access Grid and the Future of Distributed Collaboration

- Rick Stevens
- Director, Mathematics and Computer Science Division
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Professor, Department of Computer Science
- The University of Chicago

## Our Research Goal

- 	Designing, building and evaluating the computing systems and visual environments to support creative collaborative problem solving and analysis for large-scale computational science applications.

## Workthink  and Technology Trends 

- Virtualization of organizations
- Merging of work/life/play/home/school
- Work as conversation/communication
- Dominance of new/multidisciplinary problems
- Dominance of consumer products/tech drivers
- Self-assembly of organizations
- What is the right infrastructure to support future work environments?

## Telecommunications Trends 

- Data traffic will exceed voice traffic in 3-5 years
- Voice traffic will become an small fraction within 10 years
- Bandwidth prices will eventually begin to follow Moore’s law
- 2X capability every 18 months
- Telecos need to become distributed services companies
- collaboration
- management and control of infrastructure, factories etc.
- grid services (distributed information and computing services)
- Digital ecosystem within the global digital nervous system

## How would life be different if travel was free and instantaneous ?

## Hmmm ?

- You Would Live Where You Want to
- You  and Your Colleagues Would Meet in Interesting Places
- You Would Leave Your Things Where You Need or Use Them
-  You Would Need to “Arrange” to Meet People in Certain Places at Certain Times
-  You Would Need Mechanisms to “Locate” People and Things
-  Security Might Be Problematic (See Tales of Known Space)
-  You Would Develop Habitual Hangout Places

## The Need for Persistent Electronic Spaces

-      Adding the concept of _Persistent Electronic Spaces_** **to the current suite of computer supported collaborative work tools can provide the virtual equivalent of instant and (almost) free travel.
- Persistence Is Needed to Build Electronic Communities
- Persistence Is Needed to Map the Real World to Virtual Environments
- Persistence Is Needed to Lead Us Away From the Phone Call Model for Collaborations Towards the “**Cafe**” Model

## The Alliance Vision for the Grid

- Persistent, Universal and Ubiquitous Access to Networked Resources
- Common Tools and Infrastructure for Building 21st Century Applications
- Integrating HPC, Data Intensive
- 	Computing, Remote Visualization
- 	and Advanced Collaborations
- 	Technologies

## What Can You Do with One?

- Link Realtime Satellite Data Feeds With Distributed Computational and Display Systems
- Enable Schools Across the Country to Participate in Interactive Simulations and Data Analysis
- Combine Dozens of Supercomputers to Solve a Single Problem
- Interactively Combine the Output of Many Independent Servers to Analyze a New Genome
- Build a Network of Immersive Virtual Reality Sites to Collaboratively Design a New Vehicle

**Colliding Galaxies (Smithsonian IMAX)-Donna Cox, Bob Patterson, NCSA-From “Cosmic Voyage”-Nominated for Academy Award 1997**

## Our Goals for the Access Grid Project 

- Enable Compelling Group to Group Interactions at a Distance
- Connecting the People and Teams of the Alliance
- Improve the User Experience Beyond Teleconferencing
- Provide a Sense of Presence
- Support Natural Interaction Modalities
- Use Quality but Affordable Digital IP Based Audio/video
- Leverage IP Open Source Tools
- Enable Complex Multisite Visual and Collaborative Experiences
- Integrate With High-end Visualization Environments
- ActiveMural, Powerwall, CAVE Family, Workbenches
- Build on Integrated Grid Services Architecture
- Develop New Tools Specifically Support Group Collaboration

## Access Grid at the Chautauquas

**U of Utah**

**NCSA**

**GA Tech**

**UIC-EVL**

**Alliance Access Center **

**Argonne**

- University of New Mexico
- University of Kentucky
- Boston University

- The Grid

## Access Grid is Beyond Desktop Teleconferencing

- Physical Groupwork spaces
- lighting, audio, video, screens
- Virtual collaborative spaces
- strong metaphors for resource organization
- interaction scope management
- Agenda driven scenarios and work sessions
- lectures, brainstorming, demos, meetings, planning
- Integration with GRID services
- resource management, security, services, brokering
- Debut at Chautauqua ‘99 in August and Sept.
- Boston U, U Kentucky, and UNM
- ACCESS, Argonne, NCSA, EVL, Utah (supporting sites)

## Access Grid Nodes 

- Access Grid Nodes

- Access Grid Nodes Under Development
- Library, Workshop
- ActiveMural Room
- Office
- Auditorium

## ActiveMural, Giant Display Wall

- Argonne, Princeton UIUC Collaboration
- 8’ x 16’ display wall
- Jenmar Visual Systems BlackScreenTM technology, > 10000 lumens
- 8 LCD  15 DLP  24 DLP
- 8-20 MegaPixels

## Virtual Collaboration Spaces

- Structure and organization supports intended use
- activity dependent
- secure channels for “private sessions”
- broadcast channels for public meetings
- Supports multiple interaction types (modalities)
- text, audio, video, graphics, animation, VR
- Can exploit strong spatial metaphor
- interaction scoping
- resource organization
- navigation and discovery
- Needed to escape the tyranny of the desktop

## The Grid from a Services View

- _Resource-specific implementations of basic services_

- :

- E.g., Transport protocols, name servers, differentiated services, CPU schedulers, public key

- infrastructure, site accounting, directory service, OS bypass

- _Resource-independent and application-independent services_

- :

- E.g.,

-  authentication, authorization, resource location, resource allocation, events, accounting,

- remote data access, information, policy, fault detection

- Distributed

- Computing

- Applications

- Toolkit

**Grid Fabric**

**(Resources)**

**Grid Services**

**(Middleware)**

**Application**

**Toolkits**

- Data-

- Intensive

- Applications

- Toolkit

- Collaborative

- Applications

- Toolkit

- Remote

- Visualization

- Applications

- Toolkit

- Problem

- Solving

- Applications

- Toolkit

- Remote

- Instrumentation

- Applications

- Toolkit

**Applications**

- Chemistry

- Biology

- Cosmology

- Nanotechnology

- Environment

## Access Grid Prototype Node

- Functional Capabilities
- multiple video streams
- cameras
- capture/codex
- multiple audio streams
- microphones
- speakers/sound cards
- mixers/amps
- large-format displays
- computer platforms
- Software Services
- display management
- collaboration software
- applications software
- framework management

- Prototype AG  Protocol Stack

## Access Grid FY99 Accomplishments

- AG Tutorials June 7-8th @ Argonne
- Multisite AG Testbed Operational June 14
- ANL, ACCESS-DC, UNM, UK, BU, Utah, EVL, NCSA
- AG Test Cruises/Nanocruises June 14-July 30
- AG interfaces to “Grid Services Architecture” defined
- AG Toolkit v1.0 Functionality defined
- Multiscreen NT workstations, Multipipe SGIs
- ImmersaDesk “remote node only” functionality
- Web site Operational (AG software, configs downloadable)
- AG Debut at Alliance Chautauqua’s
- Initial AG Toolkit Version Planned for Late August Release

## Towards Wide Area Teleimmersion 

- Merging of Virtual Reality, Collaboration Technology and Active Spaces

## Questions?