1. A method comprising: in a network of interconnected grid compute nodes, receiving a request to execute an application in the network; registering the application; determining whether the application meets a threshold to enable assigning the application to one of the grid compute nodes within the network; assigning the application to execute on a specific grid compute node having no other current applications executing; preparing the specific grid compute node for execution of the application; recovering the specific grid compute node if the application terminates prematurely; and deregistering the application on the specific grid compute node if the application executes successfully.