Perspectives on grid computing

Grid computing has been the subject of many large national and international IT projects. However, not all goals of these projects have been achieved. In particular, the number of users lags behind the initial forecasts laid out by proponents of grid technologies. This underachievement may have led to claims that the grid concept as a whole is on its way to being replaced by Cloud computing and various X-as-a-Service approaches. In this paper, we try to analyze the current situation and to identify promising directions for future grid development. Although there are shortcomings in current grid systems, we are convinced that the concept as a whole remains valid and can benefit from new developments, including Cloud computing. Furthermore, we strongly believe that some future applications will require the grid approach and that, as a result, further research is required in order to turn this concept into reliable, efficient and user-friendly computing platforms.