The Grid: Defining the Future of the Net

According to the press, Grid Computing is "the next big thing". And all the government funding, company investments, and analyst forecasts, seem to confirm this. Therefore, in this presentation, we will provide an overview of important grid initiatives, projects, and consortia, in research and industry, analyze the current status of grid technology, standards, architecture and building blocks, and their implementation, and try to find out what's real and what's still hype in grid computing. Our special attention is directed to the convergence of grid and web services, which we believe will accelerate grid adoption. We will then look at the barriers which still impede adoption and how they might be overcome. We then focus on grid business values and business models. A quick look at MCNC's grid strategy and the North Carolina Statewide Grid, and an outlook into the future will conclude this presentation.