Grid computing market makes speedy progress
Oracle survey finds sharp rise in adoption as businesses become more familiar with concept
The adoption of grid computing is mushrooming, and the channel is in a good position to benefit from continuing uptake, according to database giant Oracle.
Grid computing enables businesses to create a cluster of servers that pool resources and act as a single computer. Research released by the vendor claimed it has been deployed by 70 per cent of global organisations “in some areas” of their business. This is a sharp rise from the 19.5 per cent found by Oracle’s previous research in November.
Tim Payne, vice-president of EMEA technology marketing at Oracle, said: “Demand for grid computing is driven by people becoming comfortable with virtualisation. It is now easy for customers to deploy.”
Payne added that grid computing gives the channel a “huge opportunity” to engage with its customer base, either by assisting with pilot systems or implementing new systems.
“We have been running education programmes and events that cover grid computing for more than a year. There is a good level of awareness among our resellers. We have seen great take-up from our channel partners,” Payne said.
Greg Carlow, managing director of Oracle VAR Repton, said his firm has completed some grid computing projects with universities, which he sees as the main grid computing market.
“We have done a bit of grid computing, but we don’t need to do a huge amount. Oracle has not been knocking our door down about grid computing, but it is part of its complete offering,” he added.
Oracle’s research also pointed to service-oriented architecture (SOA) as a growth area. The vendor claimed 76 per cent of respondents had heard of SOA and 57 per cent see it as important, highly important, or critical. But only 13 per cent of UK businesses said they already have SOA.