Database Integration in the Grid Infrastructure

Abstract

The capability of the Web to link information over the Internet has popularized computer science to the public. But it is the grid that will enable the public to exploit data storage and computer power over the Internet analogous to the electric power utility (a ubiquitous commodity). The grid is considered the fifth generation computing architecture after client-server and multitier (Kusnetzky & Olofson, 2004) that integrates resources (computers, networks, data archives, instruments, etc.) in an interoperable virtual environment (Berman, Fox, & Hey, 2003). In this vein, grid computing is a new IT infrastructure that allows modular hardware and software to be deployed collectively to solve a problem or rejoined on demand to meet changing needs of a user.