What about grids and business?
Scientists want to make discoveries. Businessmen want to make money. So when it comes to grid technology, their views are not always identical.
Still, since scientists depend heavily on commercial IT solutions, and industry benefits by science-driven innovation, there are strong links between the grid computing that scientists need and use, and new types of technologies and services that many industrial companies are introducing.
Different vendors have created and marketed distributed computing systems for years, and commercial grid solutions are now appearing on the market. Most of them focus on the "enterprise" model, which provides dependable, consistent, and inexpensive access to computing resources inside a single business.
CAN SCIENTISTS USE COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS, LIKE CLOUD COMPUTING?
While the commercial world has mainly concentrated on developing grids for single enterprises ("private grids"), the research world has focused on deploying large collaborative grid infrastructures that span several countries and many institutions ("international grids").
In recent years, private grids have capitalised on research into international grids, resulting in the emergence of a new form of grid computing: the cloud. Cloud computing is a "pay-by-use" style of grid, where the owner of a private grid allows external users to access its computing power for a fee.
Can scientists use cloud computing to fufill their research needs? The jury is out, since clouds don't always allow the dynamic sharing arrangements that international scientific collaborations need.
Can developing a private grid help a business to save money and get ahead? In many cases it already has. Private gridification of a large company can help a business lower costs, enter new areas and develop better products.
