Cloud Computing and Grid Finally Defined

Both solutions recorded many similarities. The cloud is an evolution of the Grid. Many differences – in terms of architecture and purpose – remain crucial to note.

Cloud Computing

Commonalities between “Cloud computing” and “Grid computing”? Visions identical will reduce the computational cost to obtain greater flexibility and outsourcing of operations by a third party. But they differ in their security system, their programming model, their business model, their data models. The answer may seem obvious, but it is more complex than it seems. A team of researchers from the University of Chicago has dedicated a report to the redefinition of both computer concepts. The grid, from the ’90s, was used to describe systems that provide the processing power on demand. The term would have evolved to achieve the provision of services, and therefore demand software.

An evolution of grid computing

Cloud Computing Users and Providers

At the same time, cloud computing is sold by Amazon in the facts of Grid computing (computing power and storage). Even if cloud computing is in their evolution and extension of the grid, they clearly differ. At the business model, for example, cloud computing offers the customer a payment to the consumer. From a simple credit card, it is possible to have access to more than 100,000 processors distributed in a dozen data centers. The report gives the example of Amazon, which provides EC2 Compute Cloud service against a fee at the time of use. Grid computing services, for their part, are oriented in a context of projects. As for institutions wishing to join a grid, they are not as motivated by the opportunity to generate gain than by access to additional computing resources.

Accelerate the development of cloud computing

Cloud Computing vs Grid

Another dissimilarity, and not least in terms of architecture. Grid side, one of the priorities is to develop an interoperable, secure each model draws its resources on computer media very heterogeneous, and are not individually locked. Cloud computing, on the other hand, refers to significant computing resources as homogeneous operated by a single player and which can be accessed via standard protocols. They can be built from many existing protocols like some kind Ajax Web 2.0 technologies or RSS. Still, according to the researchers, the two systems can be complementary. This is also why such a comparison is far from trivial. It will allow different stakeholders to share and possibly to evolve their infrastructure and different technologies. Also, they hope to accelerate the development of cloud computing solutions for the prototype systems to the market.