Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
or to several of them (for example one or more solution providers and system
integrators).
•
Permanent payment:
payments related to run the solution including software
licenses, usage of resources and network, and support services and other Value
Added Services. As in the one-time investment, how many market players the
end user has to pay depends of the level of solution integration.
•
Consumption based payment:
measured consumption of utility computing or
SaaS. The end user makes payments to the SaaS and/or application providers on
a PAYG basis.
6.3 Grid Value Networks
As seen in the previous section, Grid-based solutions can be complex. But, for the
end-user, this complexity is hidden, and the end-user can think they are getting all
of the solution from one provider. Normally the player that is in charge of the end-
user contact bundles the different offerings into a complete solution and synchro-
nizes different pricing and licensing models, and releases the customer from the
necessity of having to deal with several providers. However, in order to evaluate the
service provider's capabilities to provide the solution, the end-user should be aware
of the main structure behind the solution. Next we will describe value networks
for internal (Grid-enabled application) and external (utility computing and SaaS)
deployments. Special attention is paid on the end-user's roles as a solution builder
and receiver.
6.3.1 Grid-enabled Application (Internal Deployment)
In an internal deployment scenario, the Grid-enabled application runs in an organi-
zation's own in-house infrastructure, and the end user's motivation for Grid solution
may be to maximize the use of their own existing IT infrastructure. In this scenario
the end user's organization already has computing (hardware) resources available
(or they will be acquired), and they deploy internal Grid solutions to make more
efficient use of these resources, and/or to use additional capacity to run jobs faster.
A general value network for internal Grid deployment is present in the figure 6.2.
The main market players are:
•
End-user
(normally a department within the organization that uses the Grid-
enabled application).
•
Grid resource provider
supplies the hardware needed to run the Grid-enabled
application.
•
Grid middleware provider
develops/provides the middleware that is required to
create the Grid infrastructure for Grid-enabled application.
•
Application provider
creates a new application or adapts an existing one to be
executed over a Grid on top of the interfaces provided by the Grid infrastructure.
The adaptation of the application to the Grid is normally done by the application
provider, the Grid software provider, or the system integrator.
