Even STAR can use the Amazon.com model to improve computing efficiency: 

“The benefits of virtualization were clear to us early on,” said Jerome Lauret, software and computing project leader for the STAR experiment. “We can configure the virtual machine image exactly to our needs and have a fully validated experimental software stack ready for use.” The image can then be overlaid on top of remote resources using infrastructure such as Nimbus.

With cloud computing, Lauret said, a 100-node STAR cluster can be online in minutes. In contrast, Grid resources available at sites not expressly dedicated to STAR can take months to configure.