Grids and Clouds - It's not a showdown
Wed 4 Feb 2009
The GridTalk project has launched its latest GridBriefing "Grids and clouds: the new computing". It is designed as a primer to help explain the similarities, differences and uses of the two technologies.
The computer is ubiquitous, and nowhere is this more obvious than in academia and industry. The demands placed on computers are also becoming more unsustainable for these two important economic areas and the answer? For some it's clouds and for others it's Grids.
Grids and clouds however are not locked in mortal combat, with the winner achieving world domination but two complementary systems which can be used in tandem with each other to improve productivity. The briefing presents the two technologies in a jargon-free way, explaining what each of them is and what each of them isn't.
Computing has come along way since IBM said that the world might need as many as 5 computers. Grids and clouds are just one more evolution in computing. They are being used by early adopters now but one day may find themselves in your living room.
The GridBriefing can be found on the GridTalk website at http://gridtalk.org/GT-Documents.htm along with their previous publications; "European Grid Initiative", "What is a grid?" and "Grids and standardization".
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