444 ◾ Enterprise Architecture A to Z
is important to IT practitioners (rather than “just another hot technology” that gets researchers
excited but never has much effect on what network professionals see in the real world).
One can build and deploy a grid of a variety of sizes and types: for large or small firms, a single
department or the entire enterprise, and enterprise business applications or scientific endeavors.
Similar to many other recent technologies, however, grid computing runs the risk of being over-
hyped. CIOs need to be careful not to be to oversold on grid computing: a sound, reliable, conser-
vative economic analysis is, therefore, required that encompasses the true total cost of ownership
(TCO) and assesses the true risks as