State of Grid Computing in the Philippines

Rhia Trogo De La Salle University-Manila

PHILIPPINEStrogor@dlsu.edu.ph

Grid Computing

• Part of the 8-point agenda

• Efforts to develop a national grid

• Applications in Bioinformatics and Physics

Key Players

• Advanced Science and Technology – Department of Science and Technology

• De La Salle University – Manila

• University of the Philippines

• Ateneo De Manila University

Efforts in Grid Computing

• Philippines Grid Initiative

http://www.pregi.net

• Philippine Research and Government Information Network

PREGINET

• Nationwide broadband network • Links academic, research, and

government institutions in the Philippines• Interconnects institutions for research and

education activities and spearheads the development of applications on areas such as distance education, telemedicine, agriculture, disaster monitoring and network technologies.

PREGINET Infrastructure

PREGINET on E-Learning

• SOI-Asia

• Open Academy of Philippine Agriculture /Agricultural Extension Techniques

• Science and Math Teachers’ Training

Philippine Grid Computing Program

• Establish and maintain high throughput computing facility

• Organize an advisory committee that will develop a roadmap on HTC

• Build capability in grid computing by attending relevant workshops and conferences

• Develop and conduct courses relevant on grid and cluster computing

• Connect to the international grid community

Philippine e-Science Grid Program

• Build infrastructure• Train people• Find collaborators

Current activities:

De La Salle University:

Comparative research on different national grids, their frameworks and interoperability for recommendation for national grid

Grid Computing Priorities

• Bioinformatics

• Disaster Mitigation

Agricultural Biotechnology

• Molecular Markers

• Discovery of important genes

• Plant transgenesis

• More researches:– University of the Philippines Los Baños– PhilRice– IRRI

Medical Bioinformatics

• Population Screening• Drug Discovery • Outbreak detection• Disease Characterization• Vaccine Development• More researches:

University of the Philippines Manila and Diliman, St. Luke’s Medical Center, University of Sto. Tomas, UniLab

Disaster Mitigation

• Weather prediction

• Typhoon tracking

• Rainfall Prediction and monitoring

• Natural hazards mapping (Landslides)

• Environmental Monitoring with Sensor Networks

• Remote Sensing and GIS

Weather Forecasting

• PICWIN Project (PAGASA Interactive Climate and Weather Information Network)– The project had three components:

• Networking• Synoptic Station Reporting• HPC Facility

– Use of a cluster computer for weather forecasting

– 2 GB of data generated everyday

– Twice-daily forecasts readily available on the PAGASA webpage

– May contribute excess computing power for the Grid

Collaborations

• Philippine-Taiwan Roundtable Discussion on S&T Cooperation, December 12-13, 2006

• ASEAN, APEC, ASEM

• Joining APROC

• More collaborations are welcome!

References

• Villorente, D. PREGINET and the Philippine Grid Computing Program: in support of R&D Priorities in the Philippines. ASTI-DOST. Available[online]:www.nchc.org.tw/event/2006/southeast_asia/