Computational grid or Grid computing can be explained as the use of several computers concurrently to solve a single problem, often it is applied in technical and scientific issues that need a great number of computer processing cycles or access to large volumes of data. Mostly this type of computing is heavily centered within the research and academic dimensions, but businesses currently have started use it to help solve some of their work related problems.

Over the years its application has been beneficial to companies, since it has emerged as a practical technology that business can implement to gain more productivity and profits out of IT resources. It allows for secure, flexible and coordinated resource sharing among unique collection of institutions, individuals and resources. It also allows for distributed computing resources virtualization such as network bandwidth, storage capacity and processing developing a single system image, granting applications and user’s seamless access to extensive IT capabilities. Lastly, its implementation will give global access to storage capacity, a network of devices for output and input services, distributed resources CPU cycles, services, abstract elements like certificates and licenses and whole applications.

I concur with the observations made by Lauren England on the cons of its application in companies that include: hackers breaching the systems, expense of constant security firewall upgrades. Identification of actual authentication of users, power related issues and system overload all undermine the Grid computing advantages.

There would be no evident difference of using the work computer and the home computer off or on the Grid. Most people often do not notice it but their computers are most likely connected to a Grid computer, the most evident difference that is to be expected is the slow pace of the computer, the lagging of the speed can demonstrate that it is lacking the efficiency and the advantages that come with the connection offered by the Grid computers. For example, in such a Grid connection system the home computer due to the vast amounts of resources shared should turn its network into a powerful supercomputer that can be able to access vast processing storage and power capacity (Strickland, 2014). The access in such large scale grid systems the greater amount of capabilities would be an easily recognizable feat, capabilities that can never be achieved by the home based computers.

Internationally, there are many public distributed computer research projects in existence and they each try to centralize on different aspects that affect human life. One example, of such initiatives is the Astroids@home project that was started in 2012 in Prague Czec. Its main area of focus mainly is on how to extensively increase people’s knowledge on the physical properties of asteroids. The public is known to contribute to such projects by donating their computers or by permitting such initiatives to install their engine settings on personal computers to allow, change several computer settings and permit the usage of their central processing units at times of selecting. Such initiatives among others all show the benefits of Grid systems and the extent that the computer has directly impacted the various aspects of human life.