Both Entropia and United will initially target biotechnology companies and application service providers that rent software over the Web. Biotechs will use the technology to compress the time required to run drug simulations, while ASPs will hire these companies to bombard their networks in stress tests. Exodus has already signed a seven-figure deal with United. By contrast, DataSynapse will specifically target financial institutions and banks. These customers not only need the additional computing power, said DataSynapse CEO Peter Lee, they are more willing to spend on computing.
Security is also a major concern.
With distributed computing, companies will effectively be exporting data to anonymous desktops outside the corporate firewall, noted Larry Smarr, formerly director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. The companies will also likely fall victim to the copycat phenomenon. Although each can brag of different technologies and capabilities, the technology behind each is functionally equal in many respects, many said, which could lead to rapid consolidation. To attract clients, companies are offering sweepstakes prizes, cash payments and other incentives. This is definitely going to become a commodity market.