| Electrical
power grid |
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The
Grid |
When you plug-in your toaster your only concern is
if you have got any bread. You usually never worry about where
the electricity you are using comes from, if it is from coal, from
the wind or from a nuclear plant. You know that whatever appliance
you plug into a wall socket, it will get the electrical power you
need to do the job.
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When you sit in front of your computer your only concern
will be if you have got a smart idea of what you want to do (a useful
calculation, the design of a new engine, …).You will know that
whatever computer you plug into the Internet, you will get
the computing power and storage capacity you need to do the job. |
The infrastructure that makes this possible is
called "the power grid". It links together power plants
of many different kinds with your home, through transmission stations,
power stations, transformers, powerlines and so forth.
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The infrastructure that makes this possible
is called "the Grid". It links together computing resources
such as PCs, workstations, servers, storage elements, and provides
the mechanism needed to access them. |
| The power grid is transparent: you needn't worry
about how and where the electrical power you are using is generated. |
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The Grid will be transparent: you needn't worry
what computer processes you request and where the data is that it
needs. So-called middleware will asign your task to the resource best
suited to perform it and will work out the best way to locate and
retrieve the data you need.
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| The power grid is pervasive: electricity is available
essentially everywhere and you can simply access it through a standard
wall socket. |
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The Grid will be pervasive: remote computing
resources will be accessible from different platforms, including desktop,
laptop, but also PDAs and mobile phones, and you will simply access
the Grid through a web browser.
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| The power grid is a utility: you ask for electricity,
and you get it. You also pay for what you get. |
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The Grid is a utility: you ask for computer
power or storage capacity and you get it. Ultimately, you will also
pay for what you get, although in an initial phase, scientists may
donate resources in an effort to get the technology in wide circulation.
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