DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / JUNE 16, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 24    ( Table of Contents )

Special Features:

UNLEASHING THE WEB'S HIDDEN POTENTIAL
by Dr. Willy W. Chiu, Director, IBM Software Group

Most of us have grown up with the notion that we use only a small fraction of our brain power, and that if we could harness our full potential, we could perform miracles. It turns out this idea correlates extremely well with the way the Web has evolved, and where it's headed in the future.

A decade ago, many organizations starting building computing capacity like there was no tomorrow, betting much of their information technology budgets on Web-enablement. Now, in the midst of an especially tough economic climate, many of these organizations are pushing just as hard in the opposite direction -- searching for ways to boost the value of the computing capacity they already have.

The good news is, there is a proven way to do this. Research institutions, in particular, have been sharing computing capacity across computer grids since the inception of the Internet; in fact, the Web was originally modeled along these lines. By contrast, businesses have rarely shared computing capacity across grids, even inside their own organizations. Consequently, they haven't realized the full value of their technology investment.

A good illustration is the fact that 90 percent of business computing capacity lies idle at times, which is a magnitude of waste no organization would tolerate in any other part of its business. Can you imagine an airline with only 10 percent of its fleet in service, or an auto maker with only 10 percent of its manufacturing facilities in use, or a hotel chain with only 10 percent room occupancy? The absurdity of this situation speaks to the need to get substantially greater value from existing computing capacity.

In fact, a handful of industries are waking up to this issue, and are actively pursuing grid computing as a solution that can make a dramatic difference for their business. In the financial industry, banking and brokerage firms have already built extensive computing capacity to serve the millions of customers who now bank online. However, much of this capacity is underutilized on a full-time basis. That's one reason why Charles Schwab decided to look at Grid-enabling one of their applications as a way to provide premium analytical services.

The beauty of this value-added offering, which is normally available only through full-service brokerage firms, is that it didn't require additional computing capacity -- just better use of what's already there. Their grid solution balances high-demand trading volumes across the grid, and uses excess capacity to provide in-depth analytical services to customers over the company's Web site. Moreover, by hooking their computers into a grid in this project, Schwab was able to reduce average processing time for a complex wealth management application from more than four minutes to 15 seconds.

The underlying technology behind grid computing is standards-based software, or middleware, that provides high levels of integration, which is critically important in today's diverse technology environment. Businesses work with multiple technology vendors and use, on average, eight different operating systems, including Linux; they can't afford to replace existing technology assets every time they upgrade or expand their business. Nor can businesses afford to increase their operational staff to manage their computing environments. The self-managing capabilities of autonomic computing will be key to successful grid deployment.

Further, they need standards-based technology that can detect and repair problems before they lead to network breakdowns, which is vital if grid computing is going to become the preferred model for mission critical applications.

As more and more companies move to become on demand businesses, grid computing will become the technology platform of choice. Banks will use it to process mortgages applications on demand -- in minutes, instead of days and weeks. Auto makers will use it to build cars on demand, from the sales floor to the manufacturing floor. Healthcare companies will use it to improve healthcare delivery by integrating patient data in real-time, through in-home diagnostics and monitoring.

Best of all, these wonders won't mean starting over again. They'll just mean living up to the full potential embedded in our businesses and in ourselves.

Dr. Willy W. Chiu is the Director of IBM Software Group's High Volume Web Sites organization headquartered at The Java Technology Center in Cupertino, California. In this position, he leads a cross-divisional team responsible for designing solutions for large customers with high-volume Web sites. He is responsible for the High Volume Web Site Technologies Institute, a prototyping center, and the development of specialized tools to analyze the architecture of high performance Web sites.