INFN GRID DATAGRID Prototype 1

Introduction: Computing and networking technology evolution leads to more powerful computers and to high speed networks as low-cost commodity components. In parallel there is a growth of large-scale computing needs with high number of users widely distributed. This scenario is changing the way to think about-and use-computing resources. One of the most interesting and challenging approaches is the "computational grid" concept. DataGrid (www.eu-datagrid.org) is a European project (EDG) aiming to build a computational grid prototype on the basis of requirements coming from users in the application fields of the High Energy Physics[1], Earth Observations (EO) [2], and Bio-Informatics [3]. The first prototype of DataGrid is in place, since December 2001, with the functionalities foreseen in the release 1 of the project. The purpose of this document is to describe the most important characteristics of the grid proposal, the services of the first prototype and some of the problems emerged from the experience of the first steps of the project.