Lambda-Grid is a radical computing infrastructure where geographically distributed resources are tightly interconnected by dynamically configured private optical circuits. It provides intriguing opportunities for building wide-area distributed applications with tight process coordination, high-speed data transport and guaranteed communication performance. However, building applications to achieve such capabilities remains a daunting task due to the complexities of underlying software and hardware infrastructures.

       To simplify use of Lambda-Grid resources for applications, our approach is based on the concept of a Distributed Virtual Computer (DVC), a resource abstraction that provides a simple usage and performance model. Specifically, DVC’s enable application to conveniently acquire distributed resources and dynamically configured optical circuits, and use them as a private resource context to manage both application functionality and performance. Within a DVC application can have secure, high-speed and reliable access to remote resources such as compute, storage, or visualization devices.