What is grid computing and how do you learn the ropes? How do they connect computers together in order to get grid computing? What is the minimum hardware requirement for building a grid computing system and is there a limit to the number of people who can connect to the grid in order to use the facilities available?
Grid computing is the application of the resources of different computers connected to a network simultaneously to a single problem. Normally, it is used for technical or scientific problem where access to big amounts of data or a huge number of computer processing cycles is needed. A famous example of grid computing would have to be the ongoing SETI or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
In SETI, thousands of people are sharing or allocating the unused processor cycles of their computers in the enormous search for indications of “rational” signals from outer space. According to IBM vice-president for Internet strategies John Patrick, grid computing will be the next big thing. With grid computing, it uses software that is able to farm out and separate parts of a program into as many as several thousands of computers.
