This weekend, Sun Microsystems will officially launch its computer rental service with a usage fee of $1 per processor per hour.
Information about this event was officially confirmed by Sun’s chairman, Jonathan Schwartz, on his blog.
Initially, this service will be limited to customers in the U.S. market, and the capacity of the rental computer system is expected to be more restricted than what Sun had promised.
“Grid computing” is a model that allows companies to utilize a large number of computing resources on demand, regardless of their location.
Grid computing uses resources from separate computers connected into a network—typically the Internet—to solve problems that require significant computational power. This model was first introduced by the SETI@home project in 1990, and since then, many other companies have followed suit in providing similar services.
Sun officially introduced its grid computing network in February 2005. Sun’s service is designed to provide businesses with access to vast computing resources, much like how they purchase electricity. The goal of Sun’s new service is to target tasks that require deep electronic computing, such as rendering dynamic three-dimensional graphics or analyzing financial models.
Sun decided to postpone the service launch due to an overwhelming number of customer registrations exceeding the system’s capacity, leaving no room for Sun to offer a paid service.
However, according to Gordon Haff, an analyst at Illuminata, Sun’s delay is also due to the need for additional time to research security issues and solutions. For instance, the service needs essential changes to prevent misuse for spam or denial-of-service attacks.
In his blog post, Chairman Schwartz emphasized that the delay in rolling out this new service is partly because businesses do not yet trust the company’s grid computing system. Customers still prefer traditional outsourcing models over the new service.
Moreover, building a grid computing system is far more complex than Sun initially thought, Schwartz highlighted. Most current grid computing projects are built for specific applications such as data analysis, online search engines, or video rendering. In contrast, Sun’s system is taking a different approach.
Another reason for Sun’s delay in providing this service is legal issues, specifically the U.S. government’s export control regulations regarding certain technologies.
When Sun’s service officially launches, customers can register and use it through the website network.com.
