Grid technology offers numerous opportunities for the players involved. Despite the fact that the academic community has already exploited many of them, there is an evident reluctance from the business community to act likewise. Recent analysis reveals that the problem lies in overcoming certain business barriers rather than technological ones. At this stage understanding the real-life economic issues from a business perspective is deemed as more important than gaining understanding of complex theoretical economical problems, such as those related to accounting or resource sharing mechanisms especially in cases where the players do not exhibit the required technological expertise. This paper is stimulated from interaction with players from the industry and aims to fill this gap. In particular, we identify and evaluate a number of economic issues that should be taken into consideration by industrial players so that their trust and confidence in the adoption of this promising technology be increased.
Grid middleware provides the fundamental framework for the provision of Grid services. However, Grid middleware is complex software that consists of several modules. The modules for a specific grid middleware exhibit in many cases complementary features and are produced by different software providers. Thus, in order to provide a complete grid solution for business customers, it is necessary to establish a complete value network comprising all relevant suppliers. Business aspects of grid, such as business models and value networks have not been considered broadly in research yet. This paper contributes to fill this gap by describing the value network of a grid case study and by aggregating the results into a generic grid value chain.
Keywords: Grid business models, Grid value networks, Business Grids
Under grid we understand a specific middleware, which provides the necessary functionality required to enable both sharing of heterogeneous resources and virtual organizations. Up till present, research in grid has mainly concentrated on technical aspects and development. In addition, the initial and core application area of grid technology is eScience. There are ongoing international (for example EGEE) and national initiatives that are dedicated to developing and running grids in specific data and processing intensive scientific areas.
The business market of grid (i.e. the market of grid services for companies) has not been fully exploited yet. Based on first successful examples from the eScience application area, grid technology is entering a new level of maturity and is getting productized with the aim to enter the corporate market . In order to enter the corporate market, suitable business models are required , . Providers of grid solutions need to evaluate suitable value chains, pricing and licensing approaches, and market development and entrance strategies . Up till present, less attention has been paid to these aspects of grid technology. Economic oriented research questions have only been considered in the research area "Grid Economics". Grid economics considers, however, the application of economic paradigms for resource allocation on the technical level (for example application of auctions for market distribution of available resources in a grid) and does not consider the research questions regarding creating successful business models for a profitable market entrance of grid technology. Thus, there are no guidelines available for grid technology providers, such as how to choose the appropriate business model and value chain.
This paper provides a contribution to the business-oriented research of grid. It focuses on value networks of grid solutions for the corporate market. The findings regarding major players on the grid market and their relationships resulting from a broad literature review and in-depth case studies of the value chain of 18 representative grid industry pilots are aggregated to a generic value network for the provisioning of grid services and products.
The content of the paper is structured as follows: section 2 provides an overview of the research approach. Section 3 comprises a description of the grid case study. Section 4 contains a description of the concept for a generic grid value network. Section 5 concludes the paper with a summary and outlook.