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