Parallel Component Descriptor Language: XML based deployment descriptors for Grid application components

Grid computing represents one of the most interesting recent developments of distributed computing, nevertheless its low level of usability is hampering any form of widespread adoption. The concept of Service Oriented Computing may mark a turning point, however, most of the advancements in this field are related to the management of huge structures composed of full applications requiring a supercomputer each. In this paper we present Parallel Component Description Language, a language designed to allow the description of applications’ components both in terms of their computational requirements and their relationships in the structure of the complete application. The information provided by a PCDL deployment descriptor allow mapping the components onto the node of a computational Grid.