Here we are, one week out from GridWorld, and I can feel the pressure rising. Although the news has been a little slow recently, I know that won't last long, and between next week and mid-November, I have a feeling I'll have heard from just about every vendor and organization in the Grid space. After all -- among other industry events between now and then -- Grid 2006 and EGEE '06 kick off at the end of the month in Europe, and it all culminates with SC'06, which takes place Nov. 11-17 in Tampa, Fla. Not that I'm complaining, it's just that somewhat uncomfortable "calm before the storm" feeling.

Speaking of GridWorld, this year's event is supposed to serve as a coming-out party of sorts for the Open Grid Forum, and this week's issue features OGF president and CEO Mark Linesch sharing his thoughts and offering some insights as to sessions that should be of interest to the overall Grid community. I'm particularly looking forward to the OGF Launch Reception and the standards summit. Make sure to check out the article, as it serves as a great introduction to what we hope will be a great event.

Now, while Mark has provided the preview for GridWorld (at least from the OGF perspective), you can turn to GRIDtoday for live, special coverage from the conference. Throughout the week, we'll be updating a special Web site with breaking news and commentary from the show, as well as feature articles by and interviews with a broad spectrum of industry leaders. In addition, GRIDtoday subscribers will receive in their inboxes, in addition to the weekly issue on Monday, three daily issues (Tuesday through Thursday) highlighting each day's news and features. Stay tuned for more info ...

Although I mentioned early that the news has been a little slow, that doesn't mean it's been non-existent. For example, I'm especially happy to see that a team of European researchers has launched the Chemomentum project, which will look to use Grid computing to help limit animal testing. I don't want to open up a socio-political can of worms or anything, but I have to say I'm all for this type of project. I understand that animal testing has (and will continue to) proved very beneficial for mankind, but let's be honest -- the less animal testing, the better. We talk a lot about commercial Grid applications and trends in this publication, but it's important we don't forget that Grid was founded in the research world, and there are still many places there where Grid technologies can applied for everyone's benefit.

Finally, there are also a couple of interesting stories from the world of high-speed networks. First we have Internet2 working with the DoE's ESnet to deploy ESNet4, which will serve a huge number of researchers throughout both the Internet2 and DoE communities. ESNet4 will play a key role in U.S. institutions work with CERN's Large Hadron Collider project, which is set to launch next year. In addition, we have North Carolina's NCREN (through National LambdaRail) linking up to the StarLight hub in Chicago. This is even more good news for researchers at North Carolina universities, who already are benefiting from some advanced networking and Grid initiatives. On that note, I've been promised even more Grid news involving NCREN later this month, so, if you're interested, be on the lookout for that in a future issue.

By the time you're reading this feature next week, I'll already be in D.C. for GridWorld. Hopefully I'll see you there ...