Grid Computing - Guide to Cloud Computing for Business and Technology Managers - page 248

12.2.4 P2P Network
Both peer-to-peer computing and grid computing are concerned with the
same general problem, namely, the organization of resource sharing within
VOs. As is the case with Peer-to-Peer (P2P) environments, grid computing
allows users to share files, but unlike P2P, grid computing allows many-to-
many sharing. Furthermore, with grid computing, the sharing is not only
in reference to files but other resources as well. The grid community gener-
ally focuses on aggregating distributed high-end machines such as clusters,
whereas the P2P community concentrates on sharing low-end systems such
as PCs connected to the Internet.
12.3 Comparison with Other Approaches
There is no single or unique solution to a given computing problem; grid
computing is one of a number of available solutions in support of opti-
mized distributed computing. Corporate IT professionals will have to
perform appropriate functional, economic, business-case, and strategic
analyses to determine which computing approach ultimately is best for
their respective organizations. Furthermore, it should be noted that grid
computing is an evolving field and, so, there is not always one canonical,
normative, universally accepted, or axiomatically derivable view of doing
it with the grid .
Like virtualization technologies, grid computing enables the virtualiza-
tion of IT resources. But, unlike virtualization technologies, which virtualize
a single system, grid computing enables the virtualization of broad-scale and
disparate IT resources. Similarly, like clusters and distributed computing,
grids bring computing resources together. But, unlike clusters and distrib-
uted computing, which need physical proximity and operational homogene-
ity, grids can be geographically distributed and heterogeneous.
12.4 Characteristics of a Grid
In 2002, Ian Foster from Argonne National Laboratories proposed a three-
point checklist for determining whether a system is a grid or not. Ian Foster
along with Steve Tucker in the popular article “Anatomy of Grid” defined
grid computing as “coordinated resource sharing and problem solving in
dynamic, multi-institutional virtual organizations.”