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While grid computing continues to power academic research, the grid architecture is also advancing chemical development, air quality, and understanding the earth's surface. 
Though you might think your typical university computing center focuses solely on scientific and research endeavors, new high-performance and grid computing technologies allow universities to leverage their vast computing resources in solving real-world problems. That's where the University of Houston's high-performance computing (HPC) center finds itself today, thanks to an upgraded computing environment based on Sun Microsystems' grid infrastructure. While the recently upgraded environment continues to support 80 users, primarily from the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the HPC infrastructure is serving users all over Texas. The university has joined the High Performance Computing Across Texas (HiPCAT) consortium and is now a part of the Texas Internet Grid for Research and Education (TIGRE). As part of these initiatives, the university will be collaborating with Texas A&M to develop an air-quality model for the region, analyzing data to better understand local air-quality issues which will ultimately help reduce air pollution in Houston and the rest of the state. Additionally, the university has become a Sun Center of Excellence in the Geosciences. It was the first Center of Excellence to combine the study of geoscience with grid computing. The system utilizes a combination of technologies including Sun Grid Engine software (formerly Sun ONE Grid Engine) and the Sun StorEdge Open SAN Architecture. A side benefit to the new infrastructure is cost savings. The university calculates it has saved more than $4.5 million compared to the old mixed infrastructure that included IBM SP2 systems. A Sun success story (PDF) details the components in the University of Houston's new HPC center, outlines the cost savings it realized, and discusses the university's role in Texas's grid computing system.
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