nihil alienum

La idea que está detrás del proyecto la explican en este artículo de physorg.com:

Grid computing has been a target for IT developers and scientists for more than five years. It allows scientists to access computer power and data from around the world seamlessly, without needing to know where the computers are. Analysis for particle physics can also be done on conventional supercomputers, but these are expensive and in high demand. Grid computing, in contrast, is constructed from thousands of cheap units that can be increased to meet users' needs. Like the web before it, the Grid has the potential to impact on everyone's computing.

La idea del grid computing no es nueva, se está utilizando desde hace tiempo en el proyecto SETI@home (entre otros), pero lo que hace espectacular la propuesta de The Grid es que, creada para solucionar los problemas de la distribución de información que produzca el LHC, la plantean como una alternativa al futuro de Internet, otro concepto (en principio, respaldado por la UE). Lo explican así en el Times Online:

The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call. David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could "revolutionise" society. "With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine," he said.

The Grid utiliza su propio sistema operativo, Middleware, un sistema operativo on-line que distribuye tareas y recursos y que, además, es open source. Lo explican en gridpp:

The Grid is built on the same Internet infrastructure as the web, but uses different tools. Middleware is one of these tools. In a stand alone computer the resources allocated to each job are managed by the operating system e.g. Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X. Middleware is like the operating system of a Grid, allowing users to access resources without searching for them manually. GridPP has developed middleware for the Grid, in collaboration with other international projects. Due to GridPP's  open source policy, the middleware can evolve and be improved by the people who use it.

Acting as the gatekeeper and matchmaker for the Grid, middleware monitors the Grid, decides where to send computing jobs, manages users, data and storage. It will check the identity of the user through the use of digital certificates. A digital certificate is a file stored securely on a users computer which allows the Grid to correctly identify a user. The certificates are given to a user by the Certification Authority, with numerous steps to ensure the person applying is who they say they are. The middleware automatically extracts the users' identity from their digital certificate and uses this to log them in. This means users don't have to remember user names and passwords to log onto the Grid, they're automatically logged on using their Grid certificate. After this seamless identification process the middleware will find the most convenient and efficient places for the job to be run and organise efficient access to the relevant scientific data. It deals with authentication to the different sites being used, runs the jobs, keeps track of progress, lets the user know when the work is complete and transfers the result back. So for scientists the Grid will enable them to treat the distributed resources as one integrated computer system, with one single log on, and the middleware will handle all the negotiations, the submission of jobs and the collation of the results.

Después de leer todo esto, la impresión que tengo es que el CERN nos vuelve a proporcionar otra manera de escalar Internet. Es curioso porque todo el proceso repite casi paso por paso la historia de la creación de Internet y su despegue con la WWW. Diversas instituciones académicas conectadas en principio con el TCP/IP (diseñado para conseguir el mínimo común denominador de todas ellas) hasta que Tim Berners-Lee creó la WWW en el CERN precisamente. Pero lo que propone la filosofía del Grid le da un poco la vuelta a como está diseñada la Internet actual: en lugar de partir de servidores o pcs conectados para formar una red, parte de la red que ya existe para proporcionar servicios a los servidores o pcs conectados. Esto puede acabar conviertiendo el pc en una terminal conectada, con tus datos siendo procesados en Singapur, Bratislava o Toronto (por ejemplo). Aquí hay un flash en donde explican la idea.