Dr. Wolfgang Gentzsch

Dr. Wolfgang Gentzsch is the managing director of MCNC Grid Computing & Networking Services. After leading global grid technology development at Sun Microsystems, Gentzsch joined MCNC in April 2004 with more than 25 years of experience in grid computing, software development, computational engineering, computer architecture, and teaching.

At MCNC, Gentzsch directs the organization's grid strategy and technology development, including the development of one of the nation's first statewide research and education grids. Prior to joining MCNC, Gentzsch became senior director of grid computing for Sun Microsystems. He was responsible for Sun's grid computing vision, strategy and technology development. Gentzsch joined Sun in 2000 when it acquired GRIDWARE, a subsidiary of the distributed computing software company GENIAS Software which he founded in 1990. Gridware's technology is the foundation for the Sun Grid Engine, the world's leading distributed resource management software. Sun Grid Engine was a finalist at LinuxWorld 2002, earned the Excellence in Cluster Technology Award at ClusterWorld 2003, and was honored with the Frost & Sullivan Excellence in Technology Award in 2004. In 2002, he got the Sun Chairman Award for Innovation.

Gentzsch was also a professor of mathematics and computer science at the University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg, Germany, from 1985 to 2000, and served as the head of computational fluid dynamics and supercomputing at the German Agency for Aerospace and Aeronautics, from 1979 to 1985.

He is a widely published author of more than 150 articles about computer science, numerical algorithms, engineering applications, and grid computing. He is an adjunct professor at Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.