Grid-Specific Network Enhancements: A Research Gap?

The Internet communication infrastructure (the TCP/IP protocol stack) is designed for broad use; as such, it does not take the specific properties and requirements of Grid applications into account. This one-size-fits-all approach is far from being optimal – general network mechanisms, while useful for the Grid, cannot be as efficient as customized solutions. In this paper, we list properties that make a Grid somewhat unusual from a network perspective, and explain network enhancement ideas that are based upon them. In doing so, we hope to create some awareness for what we consider to be a research gap.