Utility And On-Demand Differ From True Grid

First, there's so-called "true grid," which is realized via highly complex interconnected clusters. The other, more public, face of grid has been its low-end cousin known as utility, or on-demand, computing. Strictly speaking, these two are business models for delivering grid-like computing power, rather than actual technologies themselves.

"Lots of people are trying to spin grid in a variety of different ways," says Ian Baird, CTO for grid and utility computing at EMC and former chief architect at Platform Computing. "Sun talks about clusters. IBM uses grid in the right context, but then they wrap it in on-demand. Grid is really a technology that can power on-demand, and on-demand is more of a business model. As for utility computing, the technology behind it is grid, and the utility scenario is the idea that customers can get resources on-demand."

Confused? Actually, the utility and on-demand arenas aren't all that hard to track. HP, which uses the utility moniker, is moving ahead with pay-as-you-go computing services offered through its HP Managed Services arm. Similarly, Sun in September launched a pay-for-use pricing model under which customers can access its compute grids for $1 per CPU per hour. "All of the big folks are gearing up for utility computing, and all of us believe the market for that is the SMB market," Larry Singer, a senior vice president at Sun, told resellers during a panel discussion at VARBusiness' XChange Tech Innovators conference in San Diego.

It's possible that one day utility offerings could displace on-site grids. "It's not so much whether you would have a grid," Singer opines. "It's, if you're a midmarket company, why are you doing [your own] computing if on-demand is available?"

"Utility is less about technology and more about needing flexibility," Rod Smith, vice president of Internet emerging technologies at IBM, added at the panel. "From a VAR standpoint, domain expertise is going to be critical."

Interestingly, HP, IBM and Sun all have to do juggling acts of sorts, because the three sit astride the grid fence. Each offers true high-end grid products and integration as well as utility services.

Less conflicted is Oracle, which has been successfully riding on-demand. "Our fastest-growing business at Oracle is the midsize domain in our on-demand business," senior vice president Mark Iwanowski told the Tech Innovators audience.