Grid computing is revolutionizing the way scientists share and analyze data. Grid projects worldwide are helping researchers search for new wheat genes, predict storms, or simulate the sun's interior. The 7000-odd physicists working on experiments at the Large Hadron Collider will rely entirely on grid computing to connect them with LHC data.
But a spate of recent reports on "the Grid" being developed for the Large Hadron Collider have promised way more than the technology can now--and in some cases will ever--deliver. (The first report in the The Sunday Times spurred many other articles that seemed to become shorter and less accurate as the days went by.) Here I try to separate fact from fiction.
Fiction: The Grid will replace the Internet.
Fact: The Grid, like the Web, is an application of the Internet. When the LHC turns on, data will be transferred from CERN to 11 large computing centers around the world at rates of up to 10 gigabits per second. Those large centers will then send and receive data from 200 smaller centers worldwide. All of this data transfer takes place over the Internet. Dedicated fiber optic links are used between CERN and the large centers; research networks and sometimes the plain old commercial Internet are used between the smaller centers.
Fiction: I will be able to download movies 10,000 times faster using the Grid.
Fact: First, in order to get such data transfer rates, you'd have to do what the large particle physics computing centers have done, and set up (or lease) a dedicated fiber optic link between your home and the source of your data. Second, today's grid computing technologies and projects are geared toward researchers and business with highly specific needs, such as vast amounts of data to process and analyze or large, far-flung collaborations. While you may benefit from grid computing through better weather prediction or more effective medications, you might not be logging onto a computing grid anytime soon. (Something called "cloud computing," where your programs are run in a central location rather than on your own computer, may be on the horizon as well.)
Fiction: The Grid was invented at CERN.
Fact: The first pioneering steps in grid computing were taken in the United States. The term "grid computing" was first used in a book by grid pioneers Ian Foster and Carl Kesselman, as a metaphor for making computing power accessible in the same way as electrical power. The LHC Computing Grid Project, led by CERN, will make LHC data accessible to researchers worldwide using resources contributed by grid projects around the globe. The EGEE project in Europe (also led by CERN), the Open Science Grid in the United States, GridPP in the United Kingdom, and the INFN Grid in Italy are several of the independent grid project contributing to the LHC Computing Grid and providing support for the computing needs of many other areas of research.
If you'd like to learn more about grid computing and its uses, check out iSGTW, a weekly online publication about grid computing.