http://outervillage.com/content/grid-computing-and-its-advantages

Grid computing has been around for a few years now and its advantages are many. Grid computing can be defined in many ways but for these discussions let’s simply call it a way to execute compute jobs (e.g. perl scripts, database queries, etc.) across a distributed set of resources instead of one central resource. In the past most computing was done in silos or large SMP like boxes. Even today you’ll still see companies perform calculations on large SMP boxes (e.g. E10K’s, HP Superdomes). But this model can be quite expensive and doesn’t scale well.

Along comes grid computing and now we have the ability to distribute jobs to many smaller server components using load sharing software that distributes the load evenly based on resources and policies. Now instead of having one heavily burdened server the load is spread evenly across many smaller computer which can be spread around various locations.

Check out this interesting post about the benefits of grid/hpc computing. It can be a real enabler to your business whether its in terms of abstracting the end user from the ‘tin’ the infrastructure, or improving performance of your application/batch processing. It’s always good to read what benefits others see with the technology, do take a look!