CHEMISTRY

Computer Sciences Corporation today announced its Results Driven Computing Grid (RDC Grid) offering, a new high-performance, public computing grid service that provides secure, external computing resources to global clients who need to process large applications quickly, efficiently and securely. Grid computing provides a valuable resource to companies that regularly run large applications such as risk modeling within the financial industry, design modeling in manufacturing and stress analysis in the aerospace and defense industries. Additional applications for grids include seismic analysis for locating oil reserves and the development of new drug research, among others. With RDC Grid, CSC clients now have access to the specific computing capacity and level of security they need, when they need it, paying only for the amount of grid capacity required. Grid computing combines the computing powers of many individual computers to yield a powerful computational system with processing powers similar to that of supercomputers. Public computing grids are leveraged assets, used by multiple clients, sometimes simultaneously, whereas private computing grids are dedicated to just one client. Few public computing grids exist, and CSC's RDC Grid may be the only one capable of interacting with clients' existing private grids in a secure manner. "For more than five years, CSC has delivered and maintained dedicated private grids for clients including U.S. government agencies, defense contractors and financial institutions," said Mike Laphen, CSC's President and Chief Operating Officer. "In bringing RDC Grid to market, we have leveraged this experience to produce superior results in public grid computing." CSC customizes the RDC Grid for each client and for each use. The grid supports any operating system that runs on an Intel or Intel-compatible processor, as well as any supporting software and any data management application the client requires. CSC also offers flexible security options. The highest levels ensure that once a client's application has completed its cycle on the grid, no trace of the application or data remains on the system. "In today's market, enterprises are looking to maximize their return on invested capital on their IT investments, while ensuring that they can meet the service demands of today's more dynamic environment," said David Tapper, director of IT Outsourcing, Utility and Offshore Services, IDC. "By leveraging a third-party grid service for supplemental needs, organizations can avoid making costly up-front investments and at the same time gain access to the services they need when required, while paying for just what they use."