Kick off - it's time for the NGS summer seminar series

In the midst of this summer of sport another event is kicking off soon but this time it's the NGS Summer Seminar series.

The first seminar will take place next Wednesday (20th June) at 10.30am (BST) and will give an overview of how accounting is done on the grid, and what it is used for.  It will cover the NGS accounting system at a high level and then go into more detail about the implementation of APEL, the accounting system for EGI, including the particular challenges involved and the plans for development.

The speaker will be Will Rogers from STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory who I'm sure would appreciate a good audience ready to ask lots of questions!

Please help spread the word about this event to any colleagues or organisations you think might be interested.  A Facebook event page is available so please invite your colleagues and friends!

What does the NGS do for Europe?

Quite a lot actually is the answer!

The NGS will be hosting a second seminar series this summer and the theme of the 3 seminar event focuses on the services that we provide for the European Grid Infrastructure (EGI).  As with last time, the seminar series will be held using EVO allowing people from all over the world to participate in the seminar and to quiz the presenters.  The details for this series are -


20th June - Grid Accounting and APEL
This talk will give an overview of how accounting is done on the grid, and what it is used for.  It will cover the NGS accounting system at a high level.  It will then go into more detail about the implementation of APEL, the accounting system for EGI, including the particular challenges involved and the plans for development.

27th June - GOCDB, the NGS and EGI 
This talk will cover a brief overview of the functionality provided by GOCDB, the official repository for storing and presenting EGI topology and resources information. The seminar will explain how it is used within the NGS, recent developments, useful features on the future roadmap and a chance to ask questions about the system. There will also be a short overview of how GOCDB is used in the context of the EGI project.

4th July -  The Training Marketplace
The Training Marketplace is a one-stop shop for training developed by STFC and the EGI InSPIRE project. Here you will find information about classroom-based training courses and online training materials including a repository containing thousands of resources. You can also search for PhD or MSc courses, or for resources for trainers such as a Training CA. The Training Marketplace equally allows you to advertise and a freely available gadget enables you to customise and embed the Training marketplace in your own website. This seminar will talk you through the Training Marketplace and demonstrate how you can embed a customised version of a training calendar, map or repository in your own website.

If you are interested in attending any of these online seminars then please see the webpage for further details and how to join in online.  There are also Facebook event pages available for each seminar series to help you inform interested colleagues and to invite them along.