The demands of processing and storing the data recorded by the experiment are such that a virtual army of computers, distributed over many sites around the world, are needed by the CMS Collaboration. Managing all of these machines is a tremendously complex task, requiring software tools that are sophisticated enough to cope with the ever-shifting goal posts of a cutting-edge research programme, yet provide the users (i.e. CMS physicists) with an interface that leaves them only worrying about the physics.
The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College CMS group has long been at the forefront of the UK's efforts in this area. For example, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College Real Time Monitor allows the user to visualise and explore Grid activity around the world in, as the name may suggest, real time.
