Abstract
Grid computing is a technology which allows uniform and transparent access to geographically dispersed computational resources, such as computers, databases, experimental and observational equipment etc. via high-speed, high-bandwidth networking. The commonly used analogy is that of electrical power grid, whereby the household electricity is made available from outlets on the wall, and little thought need to be given to where the electricity is generated and how it is transmitted. The usage of grid also includes distributed parallel computing, high throughput computing, data intensive computing (data grid) and collaborative computing. This paper reviews the historical background, software structure, current status and on-going grid projects, including applications of grid technology to nuclear fusion research.
