BULLETIN OF IMSP - (IMD), Pune

names it has been given by vendors as they try to differentiate their vision from everyoneelse’s. ‘Computing on Demand’, ‘Adaptive Computing’, ‘Utility Computing’, ‘OrganicComputing’, ‘Hosted Computing’ and ‘Ubiquitous Computing’ are just some of thenames given to ‘Grid Computing’ by different vendors. Grid computing is becoming thepreferred platform for next generation e-Science experiments that require management ofmassive distributed data. Just as an Internet user views a unified instance of content viathe Web, a grid user sees a single unified large virtual computer. Operational WeatherForecasting, Financial Modeling and Geophysical Explorations are some of the typicalapplications of grid computing.Grid computing offers scientists and technologists the ability to streamline their researchand undertake larger and more complex sets of problems than ever before. It is quitelikely that grid computing will play a vital and crucial role in tomorrow’s large and smalldiscoveries of computational science and will also improve the productivity amongresearchers and scientists. The ‘grid’ is acknowledged and recognized as one of the mostimportant and pioneering development in the field of computational scienceinfrastructure. Over the years, lifestyles have evolved with technology and there has beena continuous feeling and desire for global interaction in science, business, research,government and entertainment and grid is a decisive step in fulfilling this desire. Gridcomputing has heralded an era of ‘Global Grid Society’. Grid creates a virtual platformfor computation and data management similar to Internet which provides a virtualplatform for accessing information. Grid computing promises to democratize computingand computer power. There is a bright future for grid and “High PerformanceComputing” (HPC) in computational sciences. Grid computing has been universallyhailed as the next revolution after the mighty Internet and the Web. We should howeverremember that in the wake of the rise and fall of dotcom era, new technologies, like GridComputing, Nano Technology and Quantum Computers, that promise the moon and starsare often regarded with a healthy dose of skepticism. Technology expands our ways ofthinking about things and expands our ways of doing things. Technology can be a verypowerful force for intellectual innovation.DO YOU KNOW?1. What is the typical size of a cloud droplet?2. What is Harmattan?3. What is the radiative forcing due to Halocarbons?4. What is rated on saffir simpson scale of 1 to 5?5. Who introduced tephigram into meteorology?3