AbstractThis paper gives an overview of the goals, functions, architecture and future development of UNICORE. Its primary goal is to give researchers a seamless access to distributed resources that are available at remote sites. A graphical interface aids users to formulate jobs which are to be performed in a system and site independent fashion. This procedure allows switching between systems without having to change the job. Complex jobs with individual applications running on different systems at different sites may be formulated. UNICORE will perform synchronization and data transfers as required without any user intervention. UNICORE uses X.509 certificates to authenticate users, software and systems and provide secure communication over the internet. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.