According to Oracle Corp.'s latest Grid Computing Index, the number of Asia Pacific companies that have implemented or planning to implement grid computing increased by 83 percent from a year ago, followed by 45 percent in the U.S. and 7 percent in Europe.

Oracle's Grid Computing Index monitors interest and activity of companies towards grid computing, including related technologies such as server and storage virtualization.

The index is derived from three measurements within a company: level of knowledge and interest, foundation readiness and adoption.

Foundation readiness indicates how well businesses standardize their database management and operating systems, as well as application servers -- an initial step toward grid computing. Knowledge and interest determine if companies understand the benefits of grid computing, while adoption assesses the current level of grid deployment and future investments in the technology.

Asia Pacific was among the top three regions that scored the highest in knowledge and interest and foundation readiness.