Gecon2007

Although more and more applications can be executed on the Grid and the management of resources shifts from "buying hardware" to "computing on demand", a global commercial Grid system does still not exist. However, the concurrent execution of Grid applications would allow the emergence of new marketplaces (i.e. markets for processing power, storage, bandwidth, and information services), which would be the first step towards achieving the goal of a global commercial Grid system. These markets, which can be used for resource selection, resource allocation, access control, and resource planning, are referred to as Grid Economics. These markets will make the Grid evolve from a large distributed system offering best-effort zero-cost computing service into an environment, capable of resolving differences in service preferences of Grid users. This new Grid will create additional value for its participants through better means for expressing preferences, sharing resources, and generating revenue, creating a stable and scalable economy of resources.

In such a new Grid system, there is no distinction between users anymore. The general public, academic institutions, SME's or larger institutions could use the services of such a new commercial Grid system in the same way. These services could range from a simple service charged at low rate but aiming for mass usage, to complex services encapsulating e-Science or HPC methods. However, in order to make it work, innovative schemes of charging for usage of services have to exist in this service-oriented, market-based Grid system, stimulating providers to offer and customers to demand these services.

This workshop invites researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to present current results and original research in the area of grid economics. In particular, the workshop will facilitate the discussion of new business models for the Grid and the capability of existing Grid middleware to allow the economics-aware operation of Grid applications. The purpose of this discussion workshop is to suggest directions of research and amendments to existing technologies, aiming at the successful deployment of a global commercial Grid system.

In order to create the critical mass of Grid users and providers for a global commercial Grid system, many issues have to be resolved. This list of issues also represents the contributions that we are solicitating:

• Analysis of the functionality of the existing Grid technology
• Business modeling
• Market mechanisms
• Service-orientation of Grid systems
• Specification of incentives for participation and resource sharing
• Specification of economic-aware Grid services
• Analysis of pricing schemes for Grid systems
• Reports on Grid test beds and operation
• Analysis of application scenarios (with stakeholders and roles)
• Resource selection and allocation
• Metering, accounting, charging, billing systems
• Security issues on the Grid
• Decision support systems for Grid users and providers
• Capacity planning systems
• Service level agreements
• Economic models for the Grid
• Economic aspects of existing Grid applications
• Reports on national and international projects on Grid systems
• Trust and Risk management
• Standardization Virtual organizations
• Economic aspects of identity management
• Impact of legal requirements on Grid operation

The program of GECON 2007 will contain invited talks, double-reviewed presentations of submitted papers, and a roundtable discussion.
The workshop will be held in conjunction with Euro-Par 2007.
All papers will be published in the workshop proceedings as Springer LNCS.