As the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) takes shape, analogies abound about the amount of data it will produce: enough to fill a stack of CDs higher than Everest each year, for example. This unprecedented flood of information will present physicists with huge problems of storage, access and processing power. But a solution has long been promised in the form of a miraculous computing "Grid" that will grant physicists limitless computing power on demand with no more difficultly than plugging into the electricity mains. With only a year or so to go before the first data streams out of the LHC detectors, physicists and computer scientists are working harder than ever to ensure that the Grid is more than just a fairytale.
In essence, the Grid is no more than a network of computers set up to allow computing tasks or "jobs" submitted on one machine to be processed using the computing power of the others. This distributed-computing concept has already been successfully applied in projects like SETI@home, which uses spare computer power on home PCs to analyse radio-telescope data for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. But the Grid is on a far grander scale – rather than "scavenging" from desktop PCs, it will allow each of its users to tap into the power of hundreds of dedicated computer facilities around the world.
In the October issue of Physics World, Martin Griffiths takes a look at the immense computing power that the Grid will offer.