Referee 1 ******************************************* E: Referee Comments (For Author and Editor) ------------------------------ Good overall description of the Grid problem and definitions of Grid portal. You might want to show some screenshots of GRB in operation. Good description of services provided. In section 4, maybe another diagram detailing the layering of the software required in the implementation would be helpful- also a description of how the various pieces fit together. For instance what role does Expect play with GRB? Given that there are Java, Perl and Python approaches to Grid computing emerging, what were the factors in determining C and CGI as a superior approach? I'd like to know more about the C libraries you mention in the Conclusion section, possibly with a description in Section 6: project status. Overall I think this is a concise, well organized paper with valuable informational content. Referee 2 ******************************************* E. Referee Comments (for Author and Editor) The subject and content of the paper are quite satisfactory. The paper does contain some grammatical errors which should be corrected prior to publication. F. Presentation Changes A larger typeface and/or less interline-spacing (leading) would improve the appearance. Section headings should not appear as the last line on a page. Referee 3 ******************************************* E: Referee Comments (For Author and Editor) ------------------------------ Overall the papers is good, but there are a few sections that are either incomplete or inaccurate. Section 2.5 says that GridFTP supports third-part transfers, which is true, and then goes on to say that the Globus toolkit doesn't support third-part transfers. This is incorrect. The Globus GridFTP client libraries do support third-party transfers. The paragraph on security in section 3 needs to be corrected and expanded. It is not true that MyProxy uses one-time passphrases. It uses a user supplied passphrase, and not a one-time passphrase which is a technical security term. I'd also like to see more then one sentence about how cookies are used. What information is stored in them? How are they protected from malicious use? In section 4 the claim is made that using C in their portal provides better performance. Is there any data to back that claim up? With the overhead of CGI, Java Servlets are frequently benchmarked faster in industry. If this claim is going to be make, I'd like to see some performance data. The section on Project Status could use some information on users of GRB. What application groups are using the portal? How well does a generic portal work to meet the needs of multiple application groups? F: Presentation Changes The overall English reads a bit rough currently.nce about how cookies are used. What information is stored in them? How are