"This book explains grid in simple terms, using practical examples to demonstrate the technical and business benefits of grid and providing hands-on guidance for readers. This is a must read for everyone who is seriously investigating grid or planning to integrate grid technology in their IT environment."
--Wolfgang Gentzsch, Managing Director of Grid Computing and Networking Services, MCNC, Inc.
A decade ago, the corporate world viewed grid computing as a curiosity. Today, it views it as an opportunity--a chance to reduce costs, improve performance, fund new projects, and take advantage of under-utilized capacity. The engineering behind this transformation has been amply documented. Until now, however, little has been written to prepare managers, executives, and other decision-makers to implement grid computing in a sensible and effective way.
Grid computing is a way of networking computers, databases, and applications together in such a way that large computing projects can be automatically parceled out to several small computers at once. By making use of idle machines in an office (or a variety of remote offices), grid computing creates a virtual supercomputer capable of processing huge applications and quantities of data that would otherwise be impossible to execute affordably.
This book details the approach and tools needed to quickly integrate grid services to your business. It provides a look at the standards processes which make open grids possible and describes how grid services can be built using time tested software production methods.
Grid Computing: The Savvy Manager's Guide examines the technology from a rigorous business perspective, equipping you with the practical knowledge you need to assess your options and determine what grid computing approach is right for your enterprise. This book is heavy on real-world experience, distilling from a rich assortment of case studies the best practices currently at work in a variety of industries. Always attentive to grid computing’s many competitive advantages, it is also realistic about the challenges of selling the idea to staff and making it a part of your company’s culture.
Special Features:
- Sketches the history of grid computing, showing how it made the leap from academia to business.
- Examines the criteria you'll need to meet to make your network "grid-enabled."
- Explains how a grid-based solution can be made to meet key organizational requirements, including security, scheduling, data storage, and fault-tolerance.
- Surveys the approaches currently available and helps you choose the one that will best meet your needs, both now and in the future.
- Focuses heavily on the competitive advantages you can reap from grid computing, and provides advice on convincing your organization to adopt grid computing and making a successful transition.
- Companion website (www.savvygrid.com)with content, details, community forum, and latest updates for the material.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Basics
3. Grid Computing Enters Business
4. Joining the Grid
5. Technical Planning
6. Management Related Issues
7. Afterword
About the Authors
Pawel Plaszczak is the
CEO at Gridwise Technologies, an independent consulting in Grid computing.
Pawel’s international professional experience includes CERN, British Telecommunications and Argonne National Laboratory. Having earned his Msc in Computer Science in 2000, he later worked in Ian Foster’s Globus Project, fundamental in the history of Grid movement.
In 2003 Pawel left Globus to found Gridwise Technologies and work for customers who are the earliest adopters of Grid computing. Under his leadership, Gridwise has also been cooperating with numerous vendors and remains active in the standards community, helping to continue the growth of the open specifications which the Grid is built upon.
Rich Wellner, Jr.
is an Enterprise Architect with Univa Corporation.
He has been involved in the Grid community helping a number of efforts to standardize different core protocols and continues to be active in both the development of new standards and building systems centered upon them. Prior to the emergence of the Grid he spent a technology cycle in other distributed object spaces using things like Java, CORBA and DCOM.
