Distributed Computing

Overview Distributed computing technology has been used for decades to help process large computing problems by allowing multiple computers to work on the problem simultaneously. With the advent of the Internet, distributed computing has reached a new level. Distributed computing projects using user-donated processing time have become increasingly popular due to speed and effectiveness. In fact, some Internet-based distributed networks have performed tasks at speeds reached by some modern supercomputers! The links below define distributed computer, allow you to find technical details on distributed computing networks, and describe some ongoing distributed computing projects.

General Information Much of the information available online about distributed computing is highly technical and of little use to the casual PC user. The basic concept, however, is quite simple. Visit Webopedia to read a concise description of distributed computing. This page also links to other distributed computing resources. In the article "Distributed computing gets a corporate twist" author Stephen Shankland discusses how corporations might use distributed computing. Many resources, including learning guides, tutorials, and FAQs, can be found at both the Open Directory Project, and Yahoo! Directory distributed computing pages. Visit the International Symposium on High Performance Distributed Computing Web site, www.hpdc.org, to find technical information, forums, and articles. 

Distributed Computing Projects Each year, there are more and more distributed computing projects online. One of the first and most popular public distributed computing projects is called SETI@home. SETI@home allows you to donate your computer's idle cycles to a project that analyzes radio telescope data for signs of extraterrestrial life. The SETI@home project is just one of many public distributed computing projects that you can help out with. The best way to hunt down these non-profit projects is by visiting Web sites such as the ones found in the list below. Participating in these projects, which tackle mainly scientific questions, can be both fun and educational.

• www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/genome
• http://distributedcomputing.info 
• directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Computer_Science/ Distributed_Computing/Projects 
• gilchrist.ca/jeff/distributed.html

The newest adaptation of distributed computing technology is in commercial applications. In these types of applications, a company will offer computing resources for your business needs for a fee. For a better understanding of the commercial side of distributed computing, visit either www.distributed.net/ or www.entropia.com.

Additional Links The article “SETI and Distributed Computing” by Garrett Moritz provides details about the SETI@home project and how it has affected the world of distributed computing. This ZDNet article discusses similar material but from a different perspective.