Grid Computing for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

In the last decade the evolution of high performance distributed computing has brought to the definition of a new type of software architecture commonly known as grid computing. Grid computing aims at extending the classical cluster computing to the whole Internet. However, current grids are too complex for small organizations, where allocating human resources specifically to manage and use a grid system cannot be sustained. Nevertheless, there are various fields in engineering and design, where operate many SMEs, that could greatly benefit from an improvement of the computational capability of their tools. Our work describes a strategy to be followed in deploying grid infrastructure that is feasible for SMEs. This strategy leverages three fundamental concepts: 1) the preservation of well-known users interfaces, 2) a simple grid deployment and management and 3) a grid system built with the spare computational power reaped inside a typical SMEs scenario, i.e. a company LAN or VPN.