What is On Demand Computing?
Well, that depends on who you talk to. Sometimes, the term “On Demand Computing” has been used by computational scientists to mean “I need resources immediately!” Or, in other words, “I can’t wait in a batch queue, I need the resource now!” The pressing need could be because an on-line scientific instrument is about to become available, or a important visitor is standing in front of an interactive ultra-resolution display wall demo, waiting impatiently. However, On Demand Computing has also become a business term meaning “data center servers available for immediate rental to handle cyclic business needs”. IBM, HP, and SUN are all selling “On Demand Computing”. Just search for On Demand Computing and many sponsored links will pop up. IBM has widely advertised their ‘On Demand Center”. Because of this naming abiguity, we suggest folks not confuse the business people. We are encouraging the scientific computing community to abandon the term On Demand Computing, unless of course, they real
