Decoding Grid Technology



Hype about grid technology has grown, with new standards bodies and informational Web sites joining grid pioneers from the late 1990s. Grid has many meanings and claimed benefits, so how are users supposed to figure out what it means for them? Forrester segments grid technologies into three categories: compute grids, data grids, and resource grids. This report uses four dimensions of analysis to segment compute grids as 1) uncoupled compute grids such as Web farms; 2) loosely coupled compute grids such as those that use grid scheduler engines; and 3) tightly coupled compute grids such as clusters. Firms should take advantage of compute grids for specialized apps or the handful of supported commercial apps, focus on Organic IT technologies in the resource grid, and monitor the slow progress at making compute grid technology more applicable to commercial IT workloads.