True Grid

Long the domain of scientists and engineers, grid computing is finally going mainstream. CIOs need to examine their applications to see if their businesses can benefit from grid's power and economies.

BY CHRISTOPHER LINDQUIST

Executive Summary

Grid computing faces hurdles before it truly goes mainstream, but grid is no longer just a tool for techies decoding the human genome. Thanks to improvements in both hardware and software, more companies, particularly in financial services, are starting to take advantage of grid computing tools and are reaping the benefits of faster responses, reduced time to market for new products and lower prices per unit of computing horsepower. Wachovia, for example, linked hundreds of already-deployed desktop computers into a grid, taking advantage of every machine with available processing time. A job that used to take all day or overnight could now be completed in under an hour, allowing Wachovia to make exponentially faster risk and pricing decisions. The best candidates for grid are applications that run the same or similar computations on thousands or millions of pieces of data that are not dependent on previous calculations.

I've little more to say on Grid Computing; you can read the article in CIO Magazine.