Sun Microsystems has unveiled the next phase of its grid computing strategy centring on "building blocks" that tailor grids to the specific needs of customers.

The Unix giant said that its Grid Everywhere programme, part of the vendor's High Performance and Technical Computing group, is built around categories including access, data and visualisation.

Sun's "access software" is designed to efficiently use of resources, and is provided through a new Grid Portal that runs on Sun's Grid Engine Enterprise Edition software.

The company's data grid systems, which enable collection, management and protection of data regardless of user or data location, rely on its StorEdge Open SAN Architecture, StorEdge 3510 FC array, StorEdge SAM-FS and QFS software.

The visualisation grids enable applications to perform graphics operations using local or remote graphics systems.

Sun's Visual Grid platform is based on the Sun Fire V880z, the XVR-4000 high-speed graphics subsystem, and software based on OpenGL.

"Grid computing is about building local or global trade exchanges for compute capacity and data access," said Shahin Khan, Sun's vice president of high performance and technical computing.

"It is at the tipping point of moving from grass-roots deployment to becoming a business imperative.

"As is often the case, the science and engineering marketplace is the early adopter of technology and a perfect proving ground for new technologies."