Gearing up for the Grid
Martin Griffiths · Physics World · 2006
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 difficulty 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.