It was launched on Thursday and is a joint effort by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and tech giants Intel and IBM, to let students, researchers and businesses learn how to harness such supercomputing capabilities.

Being able to tap the power of thousands of PCs to run applications which need this kind of computing muscle - like animation and complex scientific calculations - without worrying whether the machine can cope, is seen as the next big thing in technology.

Last November, Singapore launched the National Grid Pilot Platform, which pools the computing resources of several key research institutions here, including those under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), Nanyang Technological University and NUS.

Both grids depend on high-speed networks for smooth data flow. The National Grid, for instance, has a bandwidth of 1 Gbps, which means data could move almost 19,000 times faster compared with a dial-up modem's 56 kbps speed.

Giz@NUS will serve as a testing ground for pilot projects on grid computing, so users can see how they can benefit from such shared resources. It will also serve an educational role.

The deputy director of NUS' computer centre, Mrs Tan Chee Kiow, told The Straits Times: 'This early exposure will cultivate tech-savvy students who can eventually lead in a grid-enabled economy.'

Grid computing is still in its infancy, and several issues that directly concern it, like security and policy, have yet to be worked out.

On top of that, for grid computing to reach a broader market, organisations must be able to buy solutions that have been tested and for which one entity can provide overall support, said Mr Phil Sargeant, a director at technology research firm Gartner.

This may be the role for set-ups like Giz@NUS and the National Grid.

Said Dr Cheok Beng Teck, director of the National Grid Office, which manages the National Grid: 'My agency is prepared to help institutions and companies set up their grid and, in turn, link up to the National Grid.'