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 that scientists are dreaming about, 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.

WHY DON'T SCIENTISTS USE COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS?

While the commercial world is mainly concentrating on developing grids for single enterprises, the research world is setting up, testing and deploying large collaborative grid infrastructures (called testbeds) that span several countries and many institutions.

Thus, while the enterprise model can help a business to its lower costs, enter new areas of development, and develop better products, it doesn't always allow the dynamic sharing arrangements that international scientific collaborations need .