A number of computer industry heavyweights joined forces on Tuesday to promote so-called grid computing in large organizations, but question marks hang over the effort.

The new organization is called the Enterprise Grid Alliance, and its founding members include Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, NEC, Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu Siemens Computers.

The alliance aims to speed the adoption of grid computing, which refers to linking pools of computers, storage devices and networks so that organizations can pull from different resources, based on changing business needs. The new group said it is working with existing consortia and standards bodies, and may develop its own specifications.

"With our pragmatic approach focusing on the enterprise, EGA is uniquely positioned to deliver near-term, tangible benefits," Donald Deutsch, the organization's president, said in a statement. Deutsch is also vice president for standards strategy and architecture at Oracle.

Deutsch's claim aside, the new group faces challenges--not the least of which is the fact that IBM, Microsoft and SAP are noticeably absent from the EGA's roster. Each company plays a major role in the corporate computing arena, and Big Blue and Microsoft are sponsors of a different group.