What Exactly Is the Grid?

The term grid is very much a part of Oracle Database 10g. In fact, the “g” in “10g” comes from the word “grid,” just as the “i” in “8i” was derived from “Internet.” And just as Oracle 8i heralded the arrival of Oracle Corporation's flagship RDBMS as a major player in shaping the Internet—something it accomplished by hosting the massive databases behind the various websites—so too does Oracle hope that Oracle Database 10g will help shape the notion of the computing grid in today's IT world.

So what exactly is the grid? And a deeper question: Why do we need a grid? The answer lies in looking at a familiar example, and considering how we can adapt and use that model in computing.

A Familiar Example: The Electricity Grid ...

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