The number of subscribers for high-speed internet service in Korea reached more than twelve million at the end of 2005. This was the result of a national project, VSIN (Very high Speed Information Network), which was launched in 1995 by MIC (Ministry of Information and Communication) of Korea. The most notable result was the completion of a nation-wide optical communication cable infrastructure. It has provided high-speed communication networks to most commercial buildings and apartments in Korea. The Korean government then built internet services upon the infrastructure, which enabled e-government services, e-commerce services, and other IT application services with low cost and high quality.
The governmental budget for science and technology research and development reached 7 trillion won (about $7 billion US) in 2005. After the success of VSIN, the Korean government has tried to enhance the competitiveness of science and technology, such as bio-technology and nano-technology, by introducing VSIN and advanced IT technologies, such as the Grid, to the research processes of science and technology, which lags relatively behind developed countries. As a part of the plan, an initiative for the comprehensive implementation of Korean national Grid infrastructure (K*Grid) was started in 2002 by MIC.
KISTI (Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information) plays a leading role in construction and operation of the production quality Grid infrastructure needed for large-scale collaborative research in scientific and commercial applications. The main goal of the K*Grid infrastructure, which integrates huge amounts of computing power, massive storage systems, and experimental facilities as a virtual single system, is to provide an extremely powerful research environment for both industries and academia. The K*Grid project includes construction of the K*Grid infrastructure including Access Grid, development of its middleware, and research and development of Grid applications.
In this article, the current status and activities about the construction and utilization of the cyberinfrastructure in Korea is described.
