jTopaz - a Firefox extension used for performing transfers with GridFTP servers
As grid infrastructures mature, an increasing challenge is to provide end-user scientists with intuitive interfaces to computational services, data management capabilities, and visualization tools. The current approach used in a number of cyber-infrastructure projects is to leverage the capabilities of the Mozilla framework to provide rich end-user tools that seamlessly integrate with remote resources such as web/grid services and data repositories.
The goal of this project is to provide the scientific community with an user-friendly, efficient interface to grid technologies. Therefore we are designing and implementing jTopaz, an open-source GridFTP protocol extension to the Firefox browser. GridFTP servers, similar to FTP servers used on the Internet, provide a data repository for files and are optimized for grid use (support for very large file sizes, high-performance data transfer, third-party transfer, integration with Grid Security Infrastructure). jTopaz provides users with a familiar and user-friendly interface with which to access arbitrary GridFTP servers by providing upload and download functionalities, as well as by obtaining and managing certificates.
For more information visit: http://gcl.cis.udel.edu/projects/topaz/
