A survey of grid knowledge and grid perception in the public sector

Grids have been developed to enable computational or data intensive scientific applications and to share resources. Existing infrastructures can benefit other possible user groups. This qualitative survey focuses on the public sector with universities, governments and hospitals. Interviews were performed to collect information on the perception of Grids by decision makers, system administrators and high level users in the sector. Application scenarios and main barriers for Grid adoption are discussed based on the users' and institutional interests.