Patent ID: 8886744

Claim:
A grid computing system, comprising: a plurality of distinct grids, wherein each distinct grid comprises: a plurality of compute nodes specific to that distinct grid such that the compute nodes are different for each distinct grid; and a master node configured to distribute jobs among the plurality of compute nodes specific to that distinct grid and receive results of the execution of the jobs from the plurality of compute nodes; one or more job submitter nodes separate from the master nodes, wherein each job submitter node is configured to load balance jobs submitted to the plurality of distinct grids, wherein, to perform said load balancing, each job submitter node is configured to: obtain load information for the plurality of distinct grids in accordance with one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols; select one of the plurality of distinct grids to perform a job according to the load information for the grids; and submit the job to the selected grid in accordance with the one or more peer-to-peer platform protocols.