Grid computing goes far beyond sheer computing power. Today's operating environments must be resilient, flexible and integrated as never before. Organizations around the world are experiencing substantial benefits by implementing grids in critical business processes to achieve both business and technology benefits.
One of the most powerful features of computing grids is the capability of being able to identify and allocate resources needed to build and run an application on demand and in almost real time, without months of negotiation or waiting for the hardware procurement cycle to facilitate it. While most discussions in the industry have been focused on the enhanced performance from grid computing in niche applications, the overlooked real payoff from combining grids with virtualization and service orientation will come in terms of a quantum jump in capability for business agility and flexibility. With grid computing, three entities – data, storage and processing – can be allocated independently and metered precisely to support most business goals. Thus, allowing a solution provider to put together a business application that best fit the goals of the application from anywhere in the world. This solution can be assembled from a combination of in-sourced and out-sourced components working seamlessly.
