For the researcher, a grid is an infrastructure, a virtual working environment that allows deployment of distributed data and computing resources through, for example, the Internet. The grid combines various computing resources, data banks, and measuring devices that comprise a pool of resources for coordinated, integrated and flexible shared use.

There are several grid infrastructures in Europe. The most important feature common to all of them is that they make it possible to cross organizational boundaries in combining, distributing and administering resources such as computing processors, data storages and materials, network connections, and application services.

Examples of grids already in production use:

• DEISA, enabling the shared use of the European supercomputing centers

• The Finnish Grid Initiative FGI
• Nordic Data Grid Facility, NDGF
• EGI.eu is a foundation coordinating the resources of National Grid Initiatives (NGIs)

Examples of grids being planned:

• LHC Computing Grid project was initiated in 2002 to maintain and analyze the data accumulated by the LHC particle collider.

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