Abstract

The main challenge grid computing environment faces today is to provide interoperability andenable collaboration between multitudes of grids. Standardization is a long term solution to enable interoperability. Grid portals and gateways have emerged to be important components in addressing interoperability challenge in grid environments to enable collaboration and expand the pool of resources available. In this paper, we proposed pluggable, interoperable and extensible (PIE) as a portal based solution for addressing interoperability challenge faced in grid environments. The architecture of PIE has been divided into three layer structure- resource layer, interoperability layer and portal layer. Portlets such as file management, credential management, job submission and resource registry has successfully demonstrated usage of heterogeneous resources irrespective of underlying platforms. The implementation of PIE as a portal based solution demonstrated interoperability between various heterogeneous resources hosted on varied platforms. 

Key words: Grid portals, interoperability, portlets, grid computing environments.