Grid computing has penetrated well beyond the large research institutions that first developed the techniques, and has entered the "early adoption" phase of mainstream commercial computing, according to a study released by The Insight Research Corporation.

Grid computing, otherwise known as distributed computing, makes it possible to share computing resources across networks, creating what amounts to virtual super computers.

The report estimates worldwide grid spending to grow from $1.8bn in 2006 to approximately $24.5bn in 2011.

Grid spending was examined in 14 vertical industries, where much of the early adopter spending was concentrated in the manufacturing and financial services industries.

While spending on grid technology is expected to increase at a compound rate of almost 70 per cent over the forecast period, the technology is still very much in an early adoption phase.

Most IT organisations have built initial commercial implementations behind a firewall at a single corporate site, the research firm said.

"Although large telecoms firms, including BT and Telefonica, have selected a grid middleware software partner to build out their service delivery capabilities, and a number of start-ups in grid have received venture capital, grid is still new to many IT organisations," said Insight Research president Robert Rosenberg.

"The technology is still seeking widespread acceptance because using grid computing software is still a challenge, and the dominant standards remain somewhat unstable."