Grid services for Commercial Simulation Packages

Collaborative research has facilitated the development of distributed systems that provide users nontrivial access to geographically dispersed resources that are administered in multiple computer domains. The term grid computing is popularly used to refer to such distributed systems. Scientific simulations have traditionally been the primary benefactor of grid computing. The application of this technology to simulation in industry has, however, been negligible. This research investigates grid technology in the context of Commercial Simulation Packages (CSPs). Towards this end, the paper identifies (a) six CSP-specific grid services, (b) identifies grid middleware that could be used to provide the CSP-specific grid services, and (c) list CSPs that include vendor-specific solutions for these grid services. The authors hope that this research will lead to an increased awareness of the potential of grid computing among simulation end users and CSP vendors.