An architecture for a portable grid-enabled engine

A common vision for the Grid is that it would enable heterogeneous, spatially distributed, non-trusted computers to operate as a single system for users, compilers, applications and services. However, currently available Grid solutions, while providing for such computers to cooperate, are complex and do not support the single system image principles. In this chapter, we describe a simple architecture for a portable Grid engine which produces and uses both interpreted and binary objects constructed around text-based mathematical descriptions of those objects and their classes. A first prototype engine has been implemented that achieves some functionality and a fully functional model is under development.