Globus [1] is a toolkit for distributed meta-computing based on the `Grid' [2] concept. It consists of two parts: a set of daemons providing the infrastructure (remote job execution, cached data access, directory services, secure communications), and a wide variety of subsystems to create `grid-enabled' applications (APIs for transparent access to secondary storage, platform-independent secure communications using familiar file/socket abstractions as well as a NEXUS-based system).
The Grid and the Globus toolkit are continuously evolving and change rapidly over time. This document focuses on release 1.1.3. In future releases one may expect amongst others new subsystems for resource discovery and brokering, and interfaces to commodity technology (Java/Jini, CORBA, DCOM).