He agreed grid computing is a compelling technology that big companies are embracing, but said small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are more likely to watch and wait for the time being.

Once grid computing becomes widespread, companies will be able to pay for supercomputing power by the hour rather than investing in highly expensive mainframes that sit idle much of the time.

Grid computing's biggest stumbling block to adoption is education, said researcher Quocirca. The problem is not many understand the true value of this technology.