IBM Chases After Grid ComputingIBM Chases After Grid Computing

IBM is installing hardware and software throughout the United Kingdom as part of a $50 million effort to create a U.K.-wide grid of high-powered computers. The national grid--made up of computers used for scientific research--would act as a virtual supercomputer.

IBM will provide a storage controller and open-source middleware from The Globus Project to Oxford University. The hardware and software will be used to link the school's storage devices to the grid. IBM will also deliver 16 Intel-based xSeries 330 Linux servers to Oxford. Oxford is among nine universities participating in the U.K.'s National Grid project, expected to be complete within two years. IBM says it has also sold 200 xSeries servers to The Netherlands for use in a five-university grid being built in that country.

IBM and other computing companies for years have been helping customers develop grids, sometimes referred to as compute farms or peer-to-peer networks, for demanding scientific uses. But IBM says that new technology currently under development can be applied to grid environments to make them easier and less expensive to implement. "It's approaching the level of something that can be used for production computing," says Mike Nelson, director for Internet strategy and technology at IBM. For instance, IBM is developing apps and middleware that gives servers self-diagnostic and self-managing capabilities under a broad initiative dubbed eLiza, which the company announced earlier this year. Nelson says such features are ideal for grids.

"Getting machines to work together, and building in redundancy and reliability are keys to this," he says. Beyond allowing corporations to harness enormous amounts of computing power internally, Nelson says grid computing might also give service providers the means to offer a broad range of hosted services more efficiently.

IBM says it will also work more closely with Globus, an open-source developer of grid software, to further develop and promote grid computing. Other companies are taking a similar approach. Last month, Sun Microsystems announced that it would release its grid-management software, called Grid Engine, to the open-source community.

IBM execs liken this latest campaign to their efforts to stimulate Linux development. Over the past year, the company has been using a combination of research dollars, alliances, and market clout to persuade software developers to write Linux-compatible apps. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, who heads up IBM's Linux initiatives, will now oversee IBM's grid-computing efforts as well.

Analysts say grid technology holds much promise, but it could be years before it is deployed broadly in corporate environments. Says Cheryl Currid, president of research firm Currid & Co., "It's not going to happen before IT managers are comfortable with security, stability, and reliability, and that could take some time."