Access Grid

Access Grid is a collection of resources and technologies that enables large format audio and video based collaboration between groups of people in different locations. The Access Grid is an ensemble of resources, including multimedia large-format displays, presentation and interactive environments, and interfaces with grid computing middleware and visualization environments. In simple terms, it is advanced videoconferencing using big displays and with multiple simultaneous camera feeds at each node (site). The technology was invented at Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago.

The "Alliance Chautauqua 99", a series of two-day conferences on computational science organised by the NCSA, was the first large-scale Access Grid event. The Access Grid was later demonstrated at Supercomputing'99 in Portland to an international audience.

As of 2005^[update] there are well over 500 nodes around the world that allow for various forms of creative and academic collaborations. Access Grid users tend to use as their text-based back-end. Indeed, the new version of the Access Grid Toolkit integrates an XMPP client with the Access Grid software.

The latest stable version of the software is release 3.2. There's also an installable bundle with some additional video codecs (such as HD) and additional tools.

The Access Grid has generated great interest and activity in Australia, where factors such as widely disparate geographic locations and relatively low population-densities have previously presented great obstacles to "in-person" collaborations.

The International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics (ICE-EM) have funded 10 Australian universities to construct nodes. The nodes allow the mathematics postgraduate community and professionals access to international experts who are visiting Australia. The nodes also provide a means of carrying out collaborative research with peers within Australia and internationally.

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