Oracle, database and business application software maker, supplies grid computing, which allows organizations to link multiple physical servers to run a single application.

In the case of the equipment hire company, Australia-based Coates Hire, the introduction of grid computing will lead to the eventual retirement of its costly mainframe system, as the company transfers its custom-developed hiring management software onto a grid-based model running on less expensive X86 servers.

Tony Yortis, the chief information and innovation officer at Coates, says that his company has been on a program to determine how it can improve its organizational performance for the past few years. This led to it replacing its business applications with Oracle’s e-business suite and database running on grid technology. Coates is in the process of transferring its mainframe-based system that is 25 years old onto the Oracle technology and this is helping the company look at how it can gain better value out of its investment systems.