What is a distributed system? A distributed system is a collection of independent computers that appear to the user as a single coherent system. To accomplish a common objective, the computers in a ...

Researchers hunt for weaknesses in large node-based systems. U.S. government computer scientists are studying how computer grids react to volatile conditions to understand how events such as virus ...

Developing a thorough test plan and benchmarks for a distributed system takes careful planning. Follow this advice on tracking down bottlenecks and analyzing performance results. This is the second in ...

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding a proof-of-concept study at Virginia Tech to develop highly connected computer systems that operate in a wireless environment. Small handheld ...

When building a web app in previous years, it was common to have a server in a centralised datacentre that would be able to run your application. As usage grew, you would address scalability ...

Ask any programmer who has ever had to deal with timekeeping on a computer, and they’re likely to go on at length about how it can be a surprisingly difficult thing to keep track of. Time zones, leap ...

Genetically engineered bacteria, rigged up as a distributed computing system, might help realize synthetic biology’s loftier goals. E. coli thrives in our guts, sometimes to unfortunate effect, and it ...