“A leading software program in peer-to-peer computing is Condor,
which was invented by UW-Madison computer scientist Miron Livny and
colleagues. The networking software was named for its ability to
scavenge for time on unused computers, effectively turning a
desktop machine into a powerful supercomputer.”
“An example of distributed computing is SETI@Home, or Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence. … “Something like SETI@home
was created for just one application,” said Todd Tannenbaum,
project manager for Condor. Condor is different. Any PC running
Condor can be called upon to solve problems, and in turn, the user
of any PC running Condor can solicit other PCs to work on a project
that requires heavy-duty processing, Tannenbaum said.”
“Condor was first developed more than a decade ago. The project
today is underwritten with a $1.5 million annual research budget.
In addition to academic research, the funding lets the Condor team
keep tweaking the software.”
“While the technology is a decade old, Livny and Tannenbaum said
Condor’s potential is greater today because PCs have become so
plentiful and operating systems like Windows NT and Linux are
robust enough to accommodate Condor.”
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