As you read in the papers, interest on the Grid stems largely from scientists with large computational problems which cannot be solved on any of the machines they can afford to buy. The Grid allows one person or institution to easily use the computational power of many others. This ability is alluring because the fact is that many of these high-end machines sit idle for large periods of time (wasted CPU power). Also, in a similar way, the Grid allows the sharing of other resources, namely research instruments. For example, it can allow a research group to access a particle accelerator, telescope, seismic sensor, etc. that is located at the other side of the world.
02 March 2004, 12:22PM