It's not the first time that I'm speaking here about grid computing, and it's certainly not the last one. I urge you to read this article to see how a $19-billion-a-year company is putting all its PCs at work 24 hours a day.
Here is just a quote about the costs of this project which involved the deployment of a package from software vendor Platform Computing.
Platform Computing prices ActiveCluster at $15,000 for the management software and $99 per PC. Those costs would be in line with a Gartner estimate that large grid-computing projects cost between $250,000 and $750,000 for software and services -- or about the price of a set of new servers. Yet, the grid platform can expand exponentially by simply adding more PCs. Bristol's goal is to tie just about every PC in the company to the grid.
But the real reason why I'm quoting this article here is because it provides two extra useful sidebars.
The first one is "What You Should Do When Considering Grid Computing."
Do demos. Overcome resistance by showing workers that tying their PCs into the grid won't disrupt their jobs.
Put things in order. Figure out which grid programs are going to run when. User-governance committees can help set priorities.
Educate everyone. Bring the entire organization up to speed on do's and don'ts, like leaving grid-connected PCs on at night.
Make conversions. If you're looking to partition pieces of a Unix or Linux program over a grid of Windows PCs, you'll need to tweak the application to run on Windows.
The second one is a set of definitions which may help you to understand this world of grid computing. It's called "Getting More Out Of Computers."
Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP): A server computing system where two or more processors are managed by a single operating system. The processors share the same memory and input/output mechanisms.
Massively Parallel Processing (MPP): A server computing system where a hundred or more processors work on different parts of a task. Each processor has its own operating system and memory.
Grid Computing: A scheme to take advantage of underused processors on corporate desktop and laptop computers. Tasks are broken down and assigned to individual processors by a master scheduler, much like MPP.
Utility Computing: Also known as a hosted grid. A company activates and deactivates resources as needed from a large information-systems facility. The customer is charged for the services it uses. It's a modern version of computer time-sharing.
Source: John McCormick, Baseline, November 1, 2002
5:51:33 PM
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