The next generation Grid: an infrastructure for global business systems

Abstract

This paper traces the evolution of the Grid and discusses the potential of the Grid as a future infrastructure adapted to the dynamics of global business systems – the global supply chain. Technology challenges facing global business systems are framed in volume (scale), real-time distribution, and real-time universal access to the visual state of the global business process and its associated physical and financial workflow. The future vision of the next generation grid as a an infrastructure for service oriented knowledge utilities makes the Grid a candidate infrastructure to address the challenge associated with the dynamics of global business systems – the global supply chain.