"The Grid" is probably just a dream. But reality is catching up fast.

Today, around the world, grids are enabling scientific projects that would otherwise have been impossible.

For example, biologists want to simulate thousands of molecular drug candidates on their computer, to see how they interact with specific disease proteins. Earth scientists want to track ozone levels using satellites, downloading hundreds of Gigabytes of data every day (the equivalent of about 150 CDs a day!). In high energy physics, the LHC will soon produce about 10 Petabytes of data per year (about 20 million CDs!). Thousands of physicists in dozens of universities around the world will want to analyse this data...

Grid computing provides the resources that allow our scientists to cope with this much data. Grid computing makes such data available all over the world, allowing scientific teams to collaborate on international projects from their own laboratories. The grid computing dream is becoming reality.

There are many grid computing projects happening around the globe. These grids are empowering new ways of doing science. Our researchers can share their data, share their data storage space, share their computing power, and share their results. This ability to cooperate and collaborate means that researchers can tackle big questions: from disease cures and disaster management to global warming and the mysteries of the universe.

Want to read more about the success stories powered by grid computing? Take a look at International Science Grid This Week, a weekly on-line newsletter that shares scientific achievements from grids around the world.