P2P systems allow computers to distribute and share files and functionality between each other. A number of mainstream corporate IT suppliers, including Sun and Intel, are now exploring the use of this technology for the enterprise. Optimise resources Corporates usually want systems that can quickly scale up in terms of processing power and storage to meet new demands. The most common solution is to replace old servers with new, or to add more of the same. But most firms have a wealth of additional but unused storage and processing power available to them in their existing systems, if they can find a way to exploit it.
Many firms have hundreds of desktop PCs, and many have thousands.
It is a rare PC indeed that does not have at least some spare disk capacity, and a rare one where the processor is so permanently task-laden that it cannot find time to run another process. These resources are usually already attached to enterprise networks. What is more, a good proportion of the work in online business processes involves simple storage and the correct movement of data. It is not an imperative that this work is undertaken by the primary servers of the network. Indeed, much of it could be undertaken by the spare capacity available to the enterprise in its existing stock of desktop PCs.