Grid computing has penetrated well beyond the large research institutions that first developed the techniques required to virtualize computing resources and has entered the "early adoption" phase of mainstream commercial computing, says a new market research study released by the Insight Research Corp. Grid computing, a type of distributed system, makes it possible to share computing resources across networks, creating what amounts to virtual super computers.

According to the report, "Grid Computing: A Vertical Market Perspective 2006-2011," Insight estimates worldwide Grid spending will grow from $1.8 billion in 2006 to approximately $24.5 billion in 2011. Grid spending was examined in 14 vertical industries, with much of the early adopter spending concentrated in the manufacturing and financial services industries.

While spending on Grid technology is expected to increase at a compounded rate of almost 70 percent over the forecast period, the technology today is still very much in an early adoption phase. Most IT organizations have built their initial commercial implementation behind a firewall at a single corporate site.

"Though large telecommunications firms, including BT and Telefonica, have selected a Grid middleware software partner to build out their service delivery capabilities, and a number of startups in Grid have received venture capital, Grid is still new to many IT organizations," said Insight Research president Robert Rosenberg. "The technology is still seeking widespread acceptance because using Grid computing software is still a challenge, and the dominant standards remain somewhat unstable."