| Electrical
power grid |
|
The
Grid |
You never worry about where
the electricity you are using comes from, if it is from coal in Australia, from
wind power in the U.S. or from a nuclear plant in France. You simply know that when you plug your toaster in to the wall socket, it will get the electrical power you
need to do the job.
|
|
You would never worry about where
the computer power you are using comes from, if it is from a supercomputer in Germany, a computer farm in India or a laptop in New Zealand. You simply know that when you plug your computer in to the Internet, it will get the computer power 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.
|
|
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 pervasive: electricity is available
essentially everywhere and you can simply access it through a standard
wall socket. |
|
The Grid is be pervasive: remote computing
resources would be accessible from different platforms, including laptops, PDAs and mobile phones, and you will simply access
the Grid through your web browser. |
| The power grid is a utility: you ask for electricity,
and you get it. You also pay for what you get. |
|
The Grid is a utility: you ask for computer
power or storage capacity and you get it. You also
pay for what you get. |
