The PPDG collaboration was formed in 1999, with initial funding from the NGI initiative and later from the DOE MICS and HENP programs, to develop, acquire and deliver vitally needed Grid-enabled tools for data-intensive requirements of particle and nuclear physics. Novel mechanisms and policies are to be vertically integrated with Grid middleware and experiment-specific applications and computing resources to form effective end-to-end capabilities.

PPDF is a collaboration of computer scientists with a strong record in distributed computing and Grid technology, and physicists with leading roles in the software and network infrastructures for major high-energy and nuclear experiments. Together they have the experience, knowledge and vision in the scientific disciplines and technologies required to bring Grid-enabled data manipulation and analysis capabilities to the desk of every physicist.

PPDG goals and plans are guided by the immediate, medium-term and longer-term needs and perspectives of the physics experiments, some of which will run for at least a decade from 2006 and by the R&D agenda of the computer science projects involved in PPDF and other Grid-oriented efforts. PPDG actively participates in iVDGL together with GriPhyN as a three-pronged approach to data grids for US physics experiments. It also works closely with complementary data grid initiatives in Europe and beyond: Global Grid Forum, EU DataGrid and as part of the HENP InterGrid Coordination Board (HICB) and HICB Joint Technical Board.

Collaborators
USA, CERN and participating EU DataGrid and DataTAG partners:
Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Caltech, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Information Sciences Institute/University of Southern California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, San Diego Supercomputer Center, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, University of California San Diego, University of Wisconsin; Global Grid Forum (worldwide); EU DataGrid project, Europe; HENP InterGrid Coordination Board (HICB) and HICB Joint Technical Board (worldwide).

http://www.ppdg.net/