September 13, 2004 (Computerworld) --
Grid may be the liberal arts of computing. It requires knowledge about many IT disciplines, a flexible management approach and acceptance of new ideas. But resumes boasting grid-specific skills and accomplishments remain relatively rare. Grid is not widely taught, and IT workers with hands-on experience in this young field are tough to find. Still, many in IT have the background that underpins grid technology, such as experience with service-oriented architectures, componentized software and distributed computing. Here's a look at the talents you need to play in grid and how some IT shops are honing them. Different Approach Grid computing applies the resources of a network to work on a single, complex problem or set of problems. One famous example is the SETI@Home project, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence in which people around the world share their PCs' unused processing cycles to analyze data in an effort to identify signals from outer space. Implementing a grid takes a variety of skills and an open mind. "The way one approaches the applications [with grid] is very, very different than is traditionally done in high-performance computing environments," says John Hurley, director of grid evaluation and implementation at The Boeing Co. in Chicago. "Grid computing is very different because it requires you to look at things fairly comprehensively." Grid requires "somebody able to integrate your middleware, your developers, your networking and your vendors, so there has to be a fairly extensive balance" of skills, Hurley adds. Grid also involves sharing IT resources, which may mean a loss of control for some business units and IT managers. That's "a disconcerting fact for a lot of IT managers; it's not something that they are ready to accept," says Srinivas Koushik, global chief technology officer at Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Financial Services Inc. "The pushback from traditional thinking is not something we are underestimating." Grid requires a new mind-set where people can truly trust the network, he adds. Young Technology Another challenge facing grid implementers is that standards, applications and middleware are immature. "We still don't have enough standards where we can simply plug and play with these things; we have to glue them together," says Wolfgang Gentzsch, who is leading an effort to build a statewide bioinformatics grid in North Carolina for MCNC Grid Computing & Networking Services, an independent, nonprofit IT research center in Research Triangle Park. Gentzsch says recruiting people with grid-building skills is a challenge. "You need someone who not only has excellent skills in distributed computing but who ideally has five years' experience" with grid, he says. "And you know grid computing is not five years old," he adds with a laugh. "That's our
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