Think about it in the way it is used. For example, some scientists are working on a project which requires a lot of equation running and analyzing data. Their supercomputer can only do so much though, and the results would take maybe even a few months. So instead, they put the equations and data to analyze into a data packet and send it out to a volunteer computer on the grid. The simple home computer (today's home computer is the supercomputer of yesterday) runs the data packet, runs the equations, and analyzes the data, then sends it back to the project. This is a more efficient way of computing for many research projects.
IBM had a big hand in developing it, so check their website for more information.
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