The evolution of IT standards in academic and commercial communities: Grid standardisation

This paper considers the emergence of institutions developing standards in a rapidly evolving area of information technology: Grid computing. Grid computing, with its aim of organizations sharing computer resources, inherently depends upon standardization. As grid computing as a technology has developed the community of actors involved has grown from a small homogeneous core of users in research institutes into a global constituency embracing large IT system vendors, leading to the formation of overlapping bodies outside the structures of formal international standardization to reconcile the needs of this diverse group. The study on which this paper is based formed one of a series of seven case studies exploring the social networks within which e-business standards are being negotiated, undertaken within the NO-REST research project, an EU research project studying the dynamics of e-business standardization (www.no-rest.org). This paper discusses the expansion of the Grid constituency, explores the tensions and alliances between the two major constituencies forming the global Grid community, industry and academia, and considers how standardization processes have evolved to accommodate these dynamics. It is found that with growing commercial participation, the future of the Grid is being shaped by three trends: strong competition between the large Grid industry actors, tight collaboration between industry and academia in standardizing the Grid, and the collaborative bodies formed to develop Grid standards increasingly becoming the arenas in which the technology is developed, alliances formed and conflicts resolved.