When Optical Networking Meets Grid Computing?

High-speed optical networking infrastructures such as National LambdaRail promise to revolutionize the way that we approach grid computing. With optical-fiber speeds doubling every 9 months and computing speeds doubling only every 18-24 months over the past few decades, we have finally reached a crossroads where network speeds have outstripped the ability of processors to keep up. Thus, we may be entering a new world where the central architectural element in grid computing is the optical network, not the end-host computer(s). The goal of this panel is to discuss whether such a new world is emerging, and if so, what the research challenges will be.