Enterprise Grid Computing

Oracle Grid Architecture

Grid computing is a new IT architecture that produces more resilient and lower cost
enterprise information systems. With grid computing, groups of independent,
modular hardware and software components can be connected and rejoined on
demand to meet the changing needs of businesses.
The grid style of computing aims to solve some common problems with enterprise IT:
the problem of application silos that lead to under utilized, dedicated hardware
resources, the problem of monolithic, unwieldy systems that are expensive to maintain
and difficult to change, and the problem of fragmented and disintegrated information
that cannot be fully exploited by the enterprise as a whole.
Benefits of Grid Computing Compared to other models of computing, IT systems
designed and implemented in the grid style deliver higher quality of service, lower
cost, and greater flexibility. Higher quality of service results from having no single
point of failure, a robust security infrastructure, and centralized, policy-driven
management. Lower costs derive from increasing the utilization of resources and
dramatically reducing management and maintenance costs. Rather than dedicating a
stack of software and hardware to a specific task, all resources are pooled and
allocated on demand, thus eliminating under utilized capacity and redundant
capabilities. Grid computing also enables the use of smaller individual hardware
components, thus reducing the cost of each individual component and providing more
flexibility to devote resources in accordance with changing needs.
Grid Computing Defined
The grid style of computing treats collections of similar IT resources holistically as a
single pool, while exploiting the distinct nature of individual resources within the
pool. To address simultaneously the problems of monolithic systems and fragmented
resources, grid computing achieves a balance between the benefits of holistic resource
management and flexible independent resource control. IT resources managed in a
grid include:
■ Infrastructure: the hardware and software that create a data storage and program
execution environment
■ Applications: the program logic and flow that define specific business processes
■ Information: the meanings inherent in all different types of data used to conduct
business