Application Developers and Users Research Group (APPS-RG) Area: Applications, Programming Models and Environments Version of October 21, 2004 Contacts: Chairs: Simon Cox Tom Hinke Thilo Kielmann Secretary: Shantenu Jha Chair emeritus: Ed Seidel Area: Applications, Programming Models and Environments (APME) Area Directors: Craig Lee Satoshi Matsuoka Information: General Discussion Email: apps-rg@ggf.org Email Archive: http://www.ggf.org/mail_archive/apps-rg/maillist.html Web Site: http://forge.gridforum.org/projects/apps-rg Web Master: Tom Hinke Purpose: The objective of the Application Developers and Users Research Group (APPS-RG) is to facilitate the exploitation of grid technologies by application developers and users. In support of this objective, the APPS-RG will assess the nature of the applications that are using grid technology and the nature of the support the grid is providing to these applications. The intent is to inform application developers and users about what is possible through the use of grid technology and to inform the developers of grid technology about what improvements are needed in grid technology, best practices and standards. It is also the intent to ensure that the widest possible range of application domains and applications within these domains are considered. The APPS-RG will also serve as an application umbrella group for reporting on the spectrum of evolving applications requiring high-level functionality leveraging a complex composition of services. It will also report on the capabilities inherent in the services and tools needed to support these applications. This complements the work of the domain-oriented applications groups and the GGF standards-oriented working groups, which are primarily focused on a single application domain or a single standards domain, by looking at the integration and composition of multiple standards and protocols in the context of a spread of applications. In this role, the APPS-RG will do the following: - Provide a forum for reporting upon application's use of grid technology and identifying gaps between what was desired and what was provided in the underlying grid technology. - Provide a forum for reporting upon services that are maturing and can support complex applications. - Provide a forum for the cross-fertilization of the exploitation of grid technologies across a spectrum of domains. - Provide a forum for developing and presenting case studies for applications that represent good examples of the types that utilize the integration and composition of services. The APPS-RG will also provide a meeting place for application developers and users who are not served by a domain-specific working/research group. As such, it will provide a forum where issues and problems can be shared and connections made with others with similar problems and issues. APPS-RG seeks to inform the general GGF audience about "issues top lists" identified by application developers and users. Milestones: 1. In support of the need to gather information on grid applications, organize from one to three grid applications workshops per year involving other GGF groups as appropriate, depending upon the specific objective of the workshop. The output of these workshops will be documented in some archival form such as a proceedings, a GGF informational document or a journal article or special issue. 2. Dedicate a portion of at least one regular APPS-RG meeting at each GGF, to a birds-of-a-feather period, in which application developers and users can identify themselves, their applications and their problems and successes, with the goal of allowing APPS-RG members to identify others with similar problems and issues. The objective is to facilitate additional off-line discussions among those with similar interests.