Platform Computing, the leading cluster and grid systems infrastructure software company, announced that Christopher Smith, principal product architect of Platform, has been elected by the Open Grid Forum (OGF) board as its vice president of standards. OGF is a non-profit consortium of public and private organizations and individuals dedicated to accelerating the adoption of grid computing worldwide.

Open Grid Forum provides an open forum for grid innovation and the development of open standards for grid software interoperability. As an open standards organization, OGF collaborates with other standards development organizations to align with existing industry standards and develop new specifications to enable grid software interoperability.

"Chris Smith has a reputation as a well respected technologist with extensive industry experience both inside and outside the grid community," said Mark Linesch, president of OGF and vice president at Hewlett-Packard.  "As someone who has championed the adoption of grid computing, we look forward to him continuing his work at OGF in this new leadership position."

A long time member of the Open Grid Forum, Smith will now be overseeing a large and important function within OGF as the new vice president of standards. He will be responsible for leading the development of architecture, specifications, roadmaps and related activities associated with the standardization and interoperability of grid software. In addition, he also will act as a liaison between the grid community and the larger computing industry to increase awareness and understanding of grid computing and its applications.  

"It is vital that users of grid technology reach out to external stakeholders in a variety of industries, and I look forward to utilizing my experience at Platform Computing to help OGF achieve this goal," said Smith. "I also hope to build on the work myself and others have begun at OGF to promote the standards that provide us with the interoperability needed to ease grid adoption."

"I would like to congratulate Chris on his appointment as vice president of standards at the Open Grid Forum," said Jingwen Wang, vice president of products of Platform Computing. "The development of standards is a cornerstone upon which the grid community and computing industry at large has been built. Few are better suited or experienced than Chris Smith to shape and influence the ongoing direction of grid standardization."

Platform Computing is one of the original board members of the OGF and has been a leader in and supporter of standards in the grid space of the Global Grid Forum since its inception. In addition to participating in the development of specifications such as JSDL, OGSA-BES and the HPC Profile, Platform has been taking active leadership roles in the Grid Forum steering group, marketing committee and the OGF board.

About Platform Computing

Platform Computing is the leading systems infrastructure software company that accelerates applications and delivers IT agility for increased business performance and reduced cost. Founded in 1992, Platform is a pioneer in HPC, cluster and grid computing technologies. Platform has over 2,000 global customers and strategic relationships with Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Red Hat and SAS, along with the industry's broadest support for third-party applications. For more information, visit www.platform.com.

About the Open Grid Forum

Open Grid Forum (OGF) was formed in June 2006 with the merger of the Global Grid Forum (GGF) and the Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA). Headquartered in Chicago, OGF is a community of users, researchers, developers and solution providers representing over 400 organizations in more than 50 countries. OGF works to accelerate grid adoption by providing an open forum for grid innovation and developing open standards for grid software interoperability.  www.ogf.org

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