Funding for the All Hands Meeting is provided by the UK Research Councils via the e-Science Core Programme (eSCP). The eSCP is a coordinated initiative that is managed by EPSRC on behalf of all the Research Councils and the communities they support.

website: www.rcuk.ac.uk/escience/

JISC supports UK further & higher education and research by providing leadership in the use of Information and Communications Technology in support of learning, teaching, research and administration. JISC receives funding from all the UK further and higher education funding councils.

website: www.jisc.ac.uk

IT is critical to effective scientific research today. Esteem has been working alongside academic and research organisations for more than 20 years providing specialist advice and assistance to create the IT infrastructures necessary to deliver complex e-Science projects.

By partnering with some of the world's leading IT companies, including Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, VMware, Citrix Systems, Oracle, Symantec and IBM, Esteem has successfully helped more than 100 higher education and research establishments develop the IT infrastructures necessary to deliver complex e-Science projects.

website: www.esteem.co.uk

At Microsoft, we're motivated and inspired every day by how our customers use our software to find creative solutions to business problems, develop breakthrough ideas, and stay connected to what's most important to them.

In science, computing plays a critical role in advancing research across almost every field today, and w e believe that the software industry has a unique opportunity to contribute to the acceleration of scientific research and innovation through public-private collaboration among the computing industry, academia and government in the field of advanced computing.

Collaboration with the scientific community offers a window of opportunity for us to address the computational needs of science. Microsoft is working with research scientists and engineers worldwide to apply advanced IT to a wide range of disciplines. By bringing together expertise from our product and research teams, Microsoft strives to ensure that scientists, engineers and researchers have the computing resources they need and spend more time focusing on discovery.

We are committed long term to the mission of helping our customers realize their full potential. Just as we constantly update and improve our products, we want to continually evolve our company to be in the best position to accelerate new technologies as they emerge and to better serve our customers.

website: www.microsoft.com

Grid Computing Now! is a Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), a national network of technical experts and other interested parties, designed to improve the UK's innovation performance by increasing and accelerating the knowledge transfer of technology into UK-based businesses. The activities of KTNs play an increasingly important role in the development of the Government's Technology Strategy, and help to feed and drive the Collaborative Research & Development programme and other innovation interventions.

We are pleased to sponsor this year's e-Science All-Hands Meeting. We would like to invite all delegates to our drinks reception on the Tuesday evening. Our guest speakers will present their visions for what industry needs from e-science research and for how e-science can be exploited to create new UK industrial successes.

website: www.gridcomputingnow.org

ClusterVision is specialist in the design, implementation and support of large-scale computer clusters. Their clustering technology provides an alternative to traditional supercomputing by connecting multiple computers to form a unified computing system. ClusterVision's technical and sales team have designed and built some of the largest and most complex computational, storage and database clusters in the UK, Germany and Benelux. With a background in applied scientific research and practical experience with a wide range of supercomputer technologies the team understands customers' requirements and provides tailor-made solutions. ClusterVision has offices in Amsterdam, London, Munich and Paris.

website: www.clustervision.com

The British Computer Society (BCS) is the Chartered industry body for IT professionals, the Chartered Engineering Institution for Information Technology and a Chartered Science Institution. With our rapidly growing membership, BCS is playing an increasingly pivotal role in leading the development and implementation of world class standards for the IT profession through innovative products, services and support. Through our specific "Professionalism in IT" programme, BCS is leading and building IT professionalism to levels which are currently only seen in more traditional long standing professions such as law, medicine, and accountancy but which will increasingly become the de facto standards for IT professionals.

website: www.bcs.org/