Enterprise Grid

An enterprise grid is a collection of interconnected (networked) grid components under the control of a grid management entity. An enterprise grid is typically managed by a single enterprise - i.e. a business entity is responsible for managing the assignment of resources to services in order to meet its business goals. The resources and services may or may not be owned by the business, for example in the case of managed services or a service provider/outsourcer. What defines the boundaries of the enterprise grid is management responsibility and control. The services that run on an enterprise grid may range from the traditional commercial enterprise applications, such as ERP or CRM packaged applications, to newer, distributed applications or services. Enterprise grids are typically differentiated from more traditional data centers by management practices and technology, which:

• Make management service or application centric, rather than component centric.
• Enable the pooling and sharing of networked resources.
• Enable agility through rapid and automated service provisioning.

A collection of networked grid components usually managed by a single enterprise, such as a business entity responsible for managing a pool of resources, a set of services, and the assignment of resources to services to meet business goals. Services range from traditional commercial enterprise applications, such as ERP or CRM, to newer, distributed applications or services; boundaries are defined by management responsibility and control.

Enterprise grids are typically differentiated by management practices and technology which:

• Make management service or application centric, rather than component centric;
• Enable the pooling and sharing of networked resources;
• Enable agility through rapid and automated service provisioning.