7. Communications

A grid system may include software to help jobs communicate with each other.

For example, an application may split itself into a large number of subjobs. Each of these subjobs is a separate job in the grid. However, the application may implement an algorithm that requires that the subjobs communicate some information among them. The subjobs need to be able to locate other specific subjobs, establish a communications connection with them, and send the appropriate data. The open standard Message Passing Interface (MPI) and any of several variations is often included as part of the grid system for just this kind of communication.