March 20, 2010

distributed processing

Last modified: Sunday, September 01, 1996 

Refers to any of a variety of computer systems that use more than one computer, or processor, to run an application. This includes parallel processing, in which a single computer uses more than one CPU to execute programs. More often, however, distributed processing refers to local-area networks (LANs) designed so that a single program can run simultaneously at various sites. Most distributed processing systems contain sophisticated software that detects idle CPUs on the network and parcels out programs to utilize them.

Another form of distributed processing involves distributed databases, databases in which the data is stored across two or more computer systems. The database system keeps track of where the data is so that the distributed nature of the database is not apparent to users.

  Related Links

Real-Time and Distributed Systems Research Group
Home page of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Real-Time and Distributed Systems Research Group. It contains links to current research projects as well as technical papers.

Yahoo!'s distributed computing page
Yahoo!'s directory of distributed computing companies and software.

Related Categories

Operating Systems

Related Terms

database management system

DCE

distributed database

local-area network

parallel processing

Books
distributed processing Products


Shop by Top Models:
Abhijit Belapurkar, Anirban Chakrabarti, Harigopal K. B Ponnapalli, Srinivas Padmanabhuni, Niranjan Iyenfar Varadarajan - Distributed Systems Security: Issues, Processes and Solutions
2 store offers from $88 - $89

David Luckham - The Power of Events: An Introduction to Complex Event Processing in Distributed Enterprise Systems
2 store offers from $47 - $76

Timothy T. Rogers and James L. McClelland - Semantic Cognition: A Parallel Distributed Processing Approach
2 store offers from $26 - $26

Mohammad Shahidehpour et al - Communication and Control in Electric Power Systems: Applications of Parallel and Distributed Processing Books
2 store offers from $191 - $195

Making Globally Distributed Software Development a Success Story: International Conference on Software Process, Icsp 2008 Leipzig, Germany, May 10-11, 2008, Proceedings
2 store offers from $64 - $86

Security Solutions