But a new era will use high-speed data networks to link the huge beasts to more and more researchers' desktops, and just as important, to link individual supercomputers together. These new networks, or grids, are needed to grapple with incredible volumes of data and in turn promise better and cheaper science. Supercomputers are a varied bunch, each with different strengths and weaknesses, but by uniting their resources, users can pick the computational approach most effective for the task in hand. The huge amounts of data being generated by researchers today need the brute force capacity of a supercomputer network. With grids, massive amounts of communal data can be stored and processed independently of individual research groups and on the most appropriate resources.
Grids also encourage better analyses.
With NEESgrid, terabytes of data will be pulled through a model calculation, independent of the user's local resources. Prudhomme noted that high-performance computing centers are home not just to supercomputers, but also to huge data storage facilities. Data is distributed around the grid, so that it is close at hand when needed for processing, reducing network demands. Matching needs to resources Managing data is only half the story. Grids must also juggle user needs with available resources.