Sun sets up grid division

Rethink IT, March, 2005

Sun has set up a new division specifically for grid computing and has outlined some of its plans to allow customers to purchase computer time, utility-style, over the network on an on-demand basis.

The Sun Grid will cost clients $1 an hour for-each microprocessor used and $1 per month for each gigabyte of storage. Customers will pay only for what they use when they use it, Sun said. Grid computing is not new, but faster networks and new standards are making them easier for companies to outsource certain computing-intensive tasks to datacenters owned by others and not worry about the cost of the computers or paying for electricity and other support costs.

Sun said its grid now has 10,000 microprocessors powered up in data centers in Texas, New Jersey, Virginia and Scotland, with more coming online later this year. The server and software company is currently working with pilot customers in both the financial and oil industries, and it plans to make the service more widely available this spring.