Building a grid

Want to set up a grid? There are three things you can't do without...

THE ARCHITECTURE

Just like civil engineers building a bridge, software engineers building a grid must specify an overall design before they start work. This design is called the grid architecture and identifies the fundamental components of a grid's purpose and function.

THE HARDWARE

A grid depends on underlying hardware: without computers and networks, you can't have a grid!

THE MIDDLEWARE

Middleware is the "glue" that makes grid computing possible. Middleware coordinates all the different grid resources to create a coherent whole. Middleware is conceptually "in the middle" of operating systems software (like Windows or Linux) and applications software (like a weather forecasting programme).