Applications
There are two main reasons for using distributed systems and distributed computing. First, the very nature of the application may require the use of a communication network that connects several computers. For example, data is produced in one physical location and it is needed in another location.
Second, there are many cases in which the use of a single computer would be possible in principle, but the use of a distributed system is beneficial for practical reasons. For example, it may be more cost-efficient to obtain the desired level of performance by using a cluster of several low-end computers, in comparison with a single high-end computer. A distributed system can be more reliable than a non-distributed system, as there is no single point of failure. Moreover, a distributed system may be easier to expand and manage than a monolithic uniprocessor system.
Examples of distributed systems and applications of distributed computing include the following:
- Telecommunication networks:
- Telephone networks and cellular networks.
- Computer networks such as the Internet.
- Wireless sensor networks.
- Routing algorithms.
- Network applications:
- World wide web and peer-to-peer networks.
- Massively multiplayer online games and virtual reality communities.
- Distributed databases and distributed database management systems.
- Network file systems.
- Distributed information processing systems such as banking systems and airline reservation systems.
- Real-time process control:
- Aircraft control systems.
- Industrial control systems.
- Parallel computation:
- Scientific computing, including cluster computing and grid computing and various volunteer computing projects; see the list of distributed computing projects.
- Distributed rendering in computer graphics.
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