Harnessing the unused cycles of hundreds or thousands of dispersed computers has yet to make a full debut in the enterprise. But it will.

First called peer-to-peer, then renamed grid or utility computing, the technology has even now become a trendy sport among flashmobs wanting to create a supercomputer. There's no doubt that assorted groups of computers coming together to form a larger, constantly changing processing engine is a model that will soon succeed in the enterprise.

Call it interesting technology, say it isn't ready for prime time, but don't ignore it. Grid computing has already drawn the attention of the both computer enthusiasts and the corporate goliaths. Sooner or later, it will rewrite the rules of enterprise and make computing power as easy as plugging into the power grid.

Within the walls of most organizations is super-computing power that already exists. It goes to waste as servers, PCs, notebooks, and workstations sitting idle. Studies from IBM and others show the average daytime usage of a PC, workstation, or server ranges from 5% to 15%. If assimilated correctly, these computers could tackle large business applications, stand ready for new work, reconfigure corporate data, or even provide secondary backups for highly sensitive information.

The price? Next to free. Since most organizations have already made the investment in hardware, the expense comes from getting the right software and brainpower. In fact, the resources are just waiting to be used.

Grid computing already comes with an impressive history. Its power helped crack the human genome in 2000, reduced the time finding a potential Anthrax vaccine from 1.2 years to 18 days, and fixed a derivatives trading/risk management problem in days rather than months.

Its dark side showed when an early implementation of peer-to-peer computing turned into file sharing products like Napster and Kazaa. Although it demonstrated wildly powerful technology, the techniques developed a tarnished image when they allowed people to freely download copyrighted music.

Luckily, the baby didn't get thrown out with the bathwater. Large computing organizations like IBM, Oracle, and HP have embraced the technology, gave it a new name and direction, along with a shored-up image. Smaller application providers and middleware companies like United Devices of Austin and DataSynapse of New York survived the transition from voodoo computing to the next great concept.

Linda Musthaler is a principal analyst with Essential Solutions Corporation.