Special Section: Defining the grid, experiences and future trends

Scope of the Special Section: Grid computing is a well established domain in computer science. It has its origins in the domain of parallel and distributed computing, and increasingly owes more and more to Internet computing and Web services. The standardization of an overall architecture, protocols and in part interfaces, is currently among the most important activities in the domain. A current survey has shown that within the Grid community researchers and practitioners have a rather coherent view on Grid computing (virtualization, service orientation, collaboration, heterogeneity, standardization, interoperability etc.). However, IT industry and/or researchers outside the Grid community have sometimes different views on what really makes a Grid.