Data management for linked (or coupled) simulation
models can be a challenging task when deploying to
grid environments. In cases where the linked models conform
to a standard interface for data input and output, generalpurpose
data providers can be used to supply data to the
models from online sources, reducing the complexity of the
deployment. We have developed a data provider component
that conforms to the Open Modeling Interface (OpenMI)
that is suitable for use on computational grids. Through
the application of three techniques, caching, prefetching,
and pipelining, the component efficiently retrieves data
from standards-based web services and delivers the data
to OpenMI-compliant models. Each technique resulted in
varying performance improvements both within a single
simulation and across multiple simulations concurrently
executing on a cluster. In this paper we report on the design
of the component and the evaluation of its performance.
