Desktop Grid computing harnesses underutilized resources of non-dedicated end-user computers to tackle computationally hard problems. In contrast to traditional Grid computing, volatility poses enormous challenges to system and application designers. This situation is even aggravated when Peer-to-Peer interaction patterns are introduced. A plethora of possible design options on every layer of the system let traditional middleware architectures reach their limit.

The Microkernel architectural pattern applies to software systems that must be able to adapt to changing system requirements. It separates a minimal functional core from extended functionality and customer-specific parts. The microkernel also serves as a socket for plugging in these extensions and coordinating their collaboration (taken from Rational Rose).

The unpredictable coming and going computational resources over time caused by usual node unavailability due to intended shutdowns and node faults.