Grid Computing Explained

Grid computing can also be thought of as distributed[and large-scale cluster computing, as well as a form of network-distributed parallel processing.  It is a form of distributed computing whereby a “super and virtual computer” is composed of a cluster of networked, loosely coupled computers, acting in concert to perform very large tasks.

Difference Between Computational Grids & Grid Computing

Computational Grids enable the sharing of a variety of geographically distributed computational resources such as supercomputers, compute clusters, storage systems, data sources and people.  It presents them as a single, unified resource for solving large-scale compute and data intensive computing applications.

The distinction between grid computing and conventional cluster computing systems is that grids tend to be more loosely coupled, heterogeneous, and geographically dispersed. Open Grid Services Architecture (OGSA) is specifically designed to enable Web services to access grid resources.  

IBM's activities in OGSA has been instrumental in bringing grid computing out of the science lab and on to mainstream IT infrastructure and networking. Microsoft  are a partner and sponsor of OGSA but are keeping quiet about their grid plans. If you're looking to meet the demands on your business infrastructure by networking computers to be pooled and provisioned on demand then consider converting to Grid Computing.