Why start PRAGMA now?
As indicated, the community is now ready to consider a global Grid. This was not the case even two years ago. However, as has been seen by groups such as the Global Grid Forum, the APGrid, the EU-DataGrid, and the UK eScience, the world is focused on the grid. The United States just funded the TeraGrid, with the expectation of it coming on line in 2003. Now is the time to begin to anticipate its use by the users, and to begin developing applications for the Grid.
