NSF software promotes Net collaboration

The National Science Foundation has released software designed to make it easier for scientists, engineers and educators to collaborate across the Internet. The NSF's Middleware Initiative is designed to be used with so-called "grids," or groups of high-performance networks and computers nationwide and around the world that supplement the Internet for scientists. The middleware kit contains software that helps users build and manage grids as well as security tools and best practices for enterprise computing. The goal, according to the NSF, is to make collaborative environments such as grid computing and desktop video-conferencing more accessible.