Grid computing is a technology to link numerous computers via the Internet and operate the system as if it were a single high-performance computer. Although the capability of each server and personal computer comprising the network is limited, the system can perform a large number of calculations by combining the power of each PC. The main application of such a network, which uses the surplus capacity of individual computers at low cost, had been thought to be in fields of research requiring massive calculations, such as genome analysis and space observation. It is now expected to be used as a backup system for public information systems and for commercial purposes.

See "On-Demand" Computing. The concept of "grid" comes from the electricity industry. The electrical grid is a network of infrastructure components that generate, transmit and distribute electricity. By analogy, by "flicking a switch," the outsourced business services flow "directly and instantly" to your office.

The virtualization of distributed computing and data resources such as processing, network bandwidth, and storage capacity to create a single system image, granting users and applications seamless access to vast IT capabilities. Just as an Internet user views a unified instance of content via the Web, a grid user essentially sees a single, large, virtual computer.

A type of distributed computing in which a wide-ranging network connects multiple computers whose resources can then be shared by all end-users; includes what is often called "peer-to-peer" computing.

The concept of 'grid' comes from the electricity industry. The electrical grid is a network of infrastructure components that generate, transmit and distribute electricity. Today, the first stage of grid computing, the cluster grid, enables organizations to better utilize available compute resources. As grids evolve from cluster to enterprise to global grids, grid computing will provide seamless, transparent, secure access to IT resources such as hardware, software and services. Like electrical power, this access will be dependable, consistent, and pervasive.

Grid computing is a model for allowing companies to use a large number of computing resources on demand, no matter where they are located.

The use of a grid to provide computing resources, analogous to an electric utility. On the client-side, grid computing provides shared resources, allowing complete transparency in where and how a task is performed. On the server side, grid computing allows enterprises to provision resources to respond to client requests.

splits complex computing tasks into many small components that are run over a 'grid'of networked computers, before being recombined to generate a result. This enables, for example, all of the personal computers in a company to be 'added together' during their idle time to act like a single, much more powerful, computer.

The use of large computers arranged as clusters and connected through distributed telecommunication infrastructures.

A Web-based operation that will allow companies to share computing resources on demand.

Applying the resources of many computers in a network to a single problem at the same time – usually a scientific or technical problem that requires a great number of computer processing cycles or access to large amounts of data. Grid computing uses software to divide and farm out pieces of a program to as many as several thousand computers. A number of corporations, professional groups and university consortia have developed frameworks and software for managing grid computing projects. ( www.whatis.com)

A form of networking. Unlike conventional networks that focus on communication among devices, grid computing harnesses unused processing cycles of all computers in a network for solving problems too intensive for any stand-alone machine. Grid computing requires special software that is unique to the computing project for which the grid is being used. www.gridcomputing.com

Grid computing is the coordinated use of a large number of servers and storage acting as one computer. With grid computing, businesses no longer need to worry about spikes in demand and the cost of maintaining excess capacity. Computing power is now available whenever itâ€(tm)s needed. Grids are built with low-cost modular components, so you can start small and preserve your investment as your business grows. Like any technology, Grid Computing has a specialized lexicon of terms, acronyms, and concepts. To help you avoid confusion and better understand Grid Computing and what it means to your organization, this glossary includes more than two dozen grid specific words and their definitions.

Applying resources from many computers in a network to a single problem or application.

Grid computing is an emerging computing model that distributes processing across a parallel infrastructure. Throughput is increased by networking many heterogeneous resources across administrative boundaries to model a virtual computer architecture. For a computing problem to benefit from a grid, it must require either large amounts of computation time or large amounts of data, and it must be reducible to parallel processes that do not require intensive inter-communication.