Metacomputing

Definition - What does Metacomputing mean?

Metacomputing is a technology designed to integrate multiple computing resources to develop a variety of applications related to business, management, industry and software. Metacomputing technology is also used to gather, interpret and analyze data from various databases and devices.

The goal of a metacomputing system is to facilitate transparent resource and network heterogeneity by effectively using all network grid resources.

Techopedia explains Metacomputing

The metacomputing concept was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) in the late 1980s, as programming engineers realized that increasing computational demands required multiple computing system connectivity. Recent metacomputing developments include large computer grids that operate like virtual networked supercomputers.

A metacomputing system is a made up of the following components:

A set of loosely coupled nodes
A comprehensive set of services, allowing a network to perform beyond single system capacity

Metacomputing advantages include:

Superior graphics
Solves complex distributed computing problems
Provides high-performance computing in data intensive applications
Reduces bandwidth by using a single high-speed network to connect computers in different locations