Scheduling in Multi-Organization Grids: Measuring the Inefficiency of Decentralization

Abstract. We present a novel, generic model of the grid that emphasises the roles of individual organizations that form the system. The model allows us to study the global behaviour of the system without introducing external forms of recompense. Using game-theory and equitable multicriteria optimization, we study three diverse types of computational grids: an off-line system with dedi-cated uniprocessors, an on-line system with divisible load and an off-line system with parallel jobs. Results show that, unless strong assumptions are made, the complete decentralization leads to a significant loss of performance