IT-Tude.com → Business Value → Business Models → Value Chains & Networks → Generic Value Chain

A Generic Value Chain for the Grid Industry

The business market of Grid has not been fully exploited yet. In order to enter the corporate market, suitable business models are required. A first step in the construction of a business model is the study of the process of creating and exchanging value. The analysis of the value creation system helps organizations to understand how the different entities can work together in order to produce value.

The value chain is a linear model that shows the value adding stages, identifying the key actors and the relationships with other actors in the chain.

The BEinGRID consolidated value chain has been produced based on the identification of all the actors that appear in the different business experiments of the project and contribute to the creation of value. The basic idea is to show how the content is distributed across a net of market actors reaching the different industries.

 

Generic Value Chain for the Grid industry

 

Moreover, the consolidated value chain for Grid aims to assist the newcomers to the Grid market to identify and form their new value chain by analysing in more depth the role of the various actors as these are also listed below and finding the missing pieces, if any, in their case.

For further information see the accompanying article of financial flows relating to this Grid computing value chain.

Role

Description

Content (provision, aggregation, distribution)

Data, information and experiences created by individuals, institutions and technology to benefit audiences in contexts that they value.

Content to be processed and transformed to build the final “product”. The end-user can provide the content.

Grid middleware provider

Provides libraries, executable codes that implement the Grid functionality.

Software/services provider

 

Provides software that is usually added to platforms or targeted to special niche markets. (e.g.: Independent Software Vendor (ISV)) An ISV makes and sells software products that run on one or more computer hardware or operating system platforms. The “Service Provider” offers services that run on the technology in question. These Service Providers will likely have a strong relationship with the Application Providers or with the operators. The main idea behind this business participant is that external service provider can offer their services to operators and application providers.

Application provider

 

This is the first customer of a specific platform. The Application Provider can buy a development package to integrate its software on top of the respective technology. An application service provider (ASP) is a business that provides computer-based services to customers over a network. Software offered using an ASP model is also sometimes called on-demand software.

Resource/Infrastructure provider

 

Provides equipment (hardware) on which the Grid implementations run. Other hardware, network and system resources used (e.g. HP).

Resource/Infrastructure operator

 

Provides access to and use of the equipment that it owned by the resource or infrastructure provider.

Telco network (equipment) provider

 

Provides equipment (telco hardware and network resources) that builds the telco network (e.g.: Nokia, Siemens).

Telco network service provider

 

Sells bandwidth under specific business criteria. Many times the network service provider and the network operator is the same company (Telefonica, BT, Vodafone).

Telco network operator

 

Provides a broadband communication network, offering real time functionality and easy access. Enabler of communications. It also can play the role of end user when the Grid technologies are used for the company business processes.

Business consulting

 

Offers a solution to your business problem, optimizes your processes, improves your “numbers” telling you how, and provides business models, advices you in business development and marketing. (e.g.: Accenture, Atos, Logica).

IT consulting

 

Expertise for assistance in the IT (information technology) processes, computing services, training.

Payment provider

 

Provides infrastructure and management enabling the payment transactions between actors. It can be a financial entity, a business consulting company, a broker, a network service provider, etc.

Reseller

 

Companies that resell/distribute an existing solution provided by another company. It can be the whole suite, or one or more of its components.

Broker

 

Intermediary, can also be the trusted third party. It advices on you on which Grid solution fits better to your situation. Provides services based on specific quality levels required by the end-users.

Trusted third party

 

Deals with contractual arrangements, financial settlements, and authentication of users (e.g.: a bank or other financial entity).

Systems integrator

 

Integration of the different modules (software, hardware) required to build the Grid solution. Brings the players together. Technical role, but may also do consultancy work besides installation, deployment and IT support.

Solution provider

 

Offers you a package of network, middleware and applications (e.g.: IBM). It may provide also consulting or Grid expertise so that the solution of the problem can be determined.

Market

Targeted end-users or virtual organizations (VO) in different industries.

Given the complexity of the provision of Grid-based solutions, it might be a good idea to form sub-clusters or mini-networks that are represented by a lead player that bundles the offerings of several players and join them with the offerings of other players to a complete solution. The potential clusters that can be formed on the market are as follows:

  • One possible cluster can be lead by the systems integrator, who integrates the services and offerings of the application, middleware and resource provider to a Grid application. Thereby he bundles the offerings, and resolves potential conflicts regarding licenses and pricing.
  • Another cluster - the telco cluster - can be formed by the providers of services and equipment necessary to enable communication infrastructure for the solution. This type of cluster can be lead by the network operator or network service provider.
  • Last, but not least, the offerings of the system integrator and the telco cluster can further be enriched with consulting and other value added services by the solution provider, who is the main interface to the customer.

The associated BEinGRID generic value network is presented below:

 


About

This work was produced by the BEinGRID project.