Now I would like to describe in more detail how "space" style grid computing actually works, using open source JavaSpaces as an example.
To recap, "space" style distributed computing is characterized by loosely coupled systems, which are coordinated through a single service acting as a shared associative memory for data containing objects. In a Web service context, the service would take a request that requires extensive computation or other resources and create an object representing the job. This object would be written into a space where worker processes have registered as having the capability of doing specific kinds of jobs. On completion of the job, the Web service would get back an object containing the results and format a reply to the requesting system.
