The DICE Group was founded in 1996 under funding from DARPA to conduct research on Massive Data Analysis Systems. The original members of the group included Arcot Rajasekar, who led the data grid technology development, Mike Wan, the chief architect, and Wayne Schroeder, who developed the authentication system.
In subsequent projects, the DICE group developed a patent digital library for the USPTO, built a Transcontinental Persistent Archive Prototype for NARA, implemented an archive for the National Science Digital Library, and supported implementation of data grids for DoE, IMLS, NASA, NSF, and NHPRC.
Two generations of data grid technology have been developed by the DICE Group. The Storage Resource Broker data grid is in production use in support of international communities. More than 4 Petabytes of data have been organized into shared data collections. The integrated Rule Oriented Data System (iRODS) is the second generation of data grid technology. The iRODS data grid automates the application of management policies and validation of assessment criteria. Additional information on data grid technology can be found at http://diceresearch.org
