I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a comprehensive and up to date treatment of one of the most important topics in computing."
—Horst D. Simon, Director, NERSC Center and Computational Research

The Grid is the computing and data management infrastructure that will provide the electronic underpinning for a global society.

As our life styles change with the development of technology, the demand for global interaction and networking in business, government, research, science and entertainment increases.

The Grid integrates networking, communication, computation and information to provide a virtual platform for computation and data management, just as the Internet provides a virtual platform for access to information. Using the Grid, users can access remote computers and gain the ability to use networked resources (computers, data archives, scientific instruments, etc.) together to solve a single problem.

Large-scale grids are intrinsically distributed, heterogeneous and dynamic. They promise effectively infinite cycles and storage, as well as access to instruments, visualization devices, and much more, without regard to geographic location. To make good this promise, complex systems of software and services must be developed.

In this book the authors consider the Grid in depth, describing its immense potential and complexity from the perspective of the community of individuals working hard to transform the Grid computing vision into reality.

Grid Computing: Making the Global Infrastructure a Reality:

• covers all aspects of grid technology;
• provides a comprehensive reference to the state-of-the-art in grid computing;
• features an extensive set of authors – the major players in the field;
• describes mature projects, working applications and cutting-edge research.

This book describes the "state of the art" in Grid Computing, and is a "must read" for all researchers in computing and engineering, physicists, statisticians, engineers and mathematicians, as well as IT policy makers involved in peer-to-peer and high performance computing. Over 50% of Chief Information Officers worldwide are expected to invest in Grid technology this year: can you afford to be left behind?