Don't look now, but your next mainframe could come in thousands of pieces. Supersized computing powers don't have to come from big iron. Its supporters say it's powerful, relatively easy to implement and dirt cheap, because P2P uses equipment that you already own. Today's implementation takes both concepts, adds PCs and spins up a new solution that's ready to take on gargantuan applications.
Users can share processing cycles, disk space, software agents and group information.
Depending on the application, P2P may use servers for directory services or for managing the distribution of tasks. When Napster showed the world a new way to distribute music, the push to P2P got started. It showed a way for fleets of PCs to provide a nonstop source of file sharing. Despite the chaotic mess, Napster created a bulletproof file system that made files available 24x7, just by using a little space from different hard disks belonging to people who wanted to share music. In the interest of spreading the word on business-focused P2P, I wanted to mention a product that one of our early users termed a 'Napster for spreadsheets'.