Grid computing is going to be a huge part of the next phase of Internet computing, IBM marketing executive Dave Botha said at a presentation in Johannesburg this morning.
"Grid computing is essentially about utilising spare cycles of all the servers in the world today ... basically bandwidth and performance on demand."
Botha said that as the industry moves into new phase of the Internet, "opportunity-ready infrastructures" are essential to meet the demands of e-business. These demands will be satisfied by grid computing which provides processing power on demand, "very similar to utilities such as electricity. This may sound far-fetched now but it is a crucial part of the next wave of the Internet."
Grid computing is envisioned to allow parallel systems to use the combined processing resources of a range of different systems which are distributed across a collection of different domains. Elements of the grid will be able to access "spare" processing power as and when they need it, much like users use electricity.
"There are a number of key issues behind the evolution of the Internet. The first is the growth in mobile devices ... and the always-on infrastructure."
The second is open standards and Linux. "Linux is a crucial element in the current explosion of e-business through its low-cost benefits ... and as a company we will continue to focus on Linux in our deployment and development." Botha said Linux would rapidly become pervasive across all of the company`s servers.
He said open standards are equally important to the company in the coming years. "Open standards are, for IBM, a vital and key strategy ... for years we were a proprietary company and it didn`t work for us. Open standards are the only way to go and the only way to deliver value."
Underpinning the opportunity-ready infrastructure is eLiza, said Botha. eLiza is IBM`s blueprint for self-managing servers and infrastructure.
The eLiza blueprint encompasses four key areas: self-configuring, self-protecting, self-healing and self-optimising infrastructures.
Security and scalability are the major obstacles to overcome in this next generation of the Internet. "Systems have to be absolutely secure ... and we have to make sure the infrastructure is growing."
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