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Grid Computing Meets Web Services?

Posted by Hemos on from the combine-'em-together dept.

jgeelan writes "According to an article in the current issue of Web Services Journal, by ex-IBM, ex-Vitria Technology, ex-IONA middleware maven Dirk Hamstra, the open source initiative known as OGSA, the Open Grid Services Architecture, is poised to bring utility-based computing a step closer. "The combination of Web services and grid computing," Hamstra writes, "virtualizes networked resources using common computing standards, making them accessible to a larger audience." Amazing what a little R&D money from IBM, a prime grid-computing mover, can achieve."

11 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. hot damn by Lord+Omlette · · Score: 2

    So Microsoft's .NET will run on Sony's PS3? Truly the best of both worlds...

    --
    [o]_O
  2. What a great idea! by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now Saddam Hussein can run his nuclear bomb simulations without having to violate US export laws.

  3. Other companies are already working on this ... by DanEsparza · · Score: 4, Informative
    Just wanted to point out that other companies are already working on this concept, too. 'The Mind Electric' has a very nice set of existing Java based web-services tools.

    They are apparently expanding this toolkit to a 'grid service platform' called 'Gaia' detailed here.

    From the website:

    GAIA is a service-oriented grid-computing platform that connects producers and consumers of services and data while shielding them from issues like fail over, load balancing and clustering. GAIA can connect and control web services hosted on any combination of platforms, and uses a P2P architecture for reliability and scalability.

    GAIA is based on simple yet powerful concepts, can run on machines ranging from enterprise servers to wireless PDAs, and has native implementations for Java and Microsoft .NET.

  4. Re:Finally a relevant Post by benjfowler · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes, relevant but wrong. Sorry :)

    Grid computing and clustering technologies are on opposite ends of the parallel computing scale.

    On one hand, you have a grid, which is a framework meant to aggregate computing capacity and peripherals from potentially widely-separated machines, taking into account things like unreliable and insecure networks, resource metering, multiple domains of control, etc.

    On the other hand, you have a bunch of beige boxes tightly integrated via a system-area network. Latency between the nodes is far lower, compared to your average grid technology, and you don't have to solve any of the security or accountability problem either.

    Each calls for a different style of application development too. In systems where IPC is really expensive, you want to minimise it as much as possible. Not all apps that are written to run on a Beowulf cluster will necessarily port straight over to a grid framework. However, for apps that can be made to run well on a grid, the potential computing power available is far, far greater.

  5. Web services? by dpt · · Score: 2, Funny


    I will now announce the following uses for web services in alphabetical order:

    * Making your broadband connection perform like a dial-up (thanks to XML).

    That is all, thank you.
    </german accent>

  6. grid computing sites by jukal · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here is a little collection of grid computing related companies, organisations and projects. If there is something crucial missing, let me know :)

    1. Re:grid computing sites by jukal · · Score: 2
      > every time I hear the word "Grid" I think of those cheesey laptops which radio shack sold

      Yes! For some reason it is immensily hard to adopt that word. Distributed computing was just so much clearer. According to some descriptions (atleast my current explanation :) the "grid" is supposed to point that the system can be built on top of very heterogenic hardware, software and network and to do very heterogenic tasks, and to be able be configured automagically or in adhoc manner. Now, in my mind a grid is something rather fixed. Why don't we change the term to blob computing for example :)

    2. Re:grid computing sites by Zach+Garner · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, "grid" comes from "Power Grid" which indicates how a computational grid is intended to be used.

      Plug the organizations computers and other resources into the grid (these are analog to power plants). When you, at your workstation, need to do something computationally expensive or otherwise use the grid's resources, your computer uses the grid to do the work.

      You plug in your radio to the power grid, press the button and you've got music, instantly. You plug in your accounting program to the computational grid, press the button and you've got complex stockmarket forcasts, instantly.

  7. Web Services by bziman · · Score: 2
    I don't know much about grid computing, but if you need a platform for enabling Web Services, check out the free download in my sig:

    Enterprise Web Services

    -brian

  8. ConCert project by Tom7 · · Score: 2

    You might consider adding the ConCert project:

    http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~concert/

    We aim to provide a framework for grid computing with certified code (run native code without needing to trust anyone) and strong language support.

  9. Re:Between cluster and Seti@home by epaulson · · Score: 2

    Condor

    http://www.cs.wisc.edu/condor/