Distributed Computing vs.
Cloud Computing
What is the role of distributed computing in cloud computing?
Distributed computing and cloud computing are not mutually
exclusive. In fact, distributed computing is essentially a variant of cloud
computing that operates on a distributed cloud network.
How Does Distributed Computing Work?
Distributed computing connects hardware and
software resources to do many things, including:
- Work in
collaboration to achieve a single goal through optional resource
sharing;
- Manage access rights per
the authority level of users;
- Keep resources,
e.g., distributed computing software, open for
further development;
- Achieve concurrency that
lets multiple machines work on the same process;
- Ensure all
computing resources are scalable and operate
faster when multiple machines work together;
- Detect and
handle errors in connected components of the distributed network so that
the network doesn’t fail and stays fault-tolerant.
Advanced distributed systems have automated
processes and APIs to help them perform better.
From the customization perspective,
distributed clouds are a boon for businesses. Cloud service providers can
connect on-premises systems to the cloud computing stack so that enterprises
can transform their entire IT infrastructure without discarding old setups.
Instead, they can extend existing infrastructure through comparatively fewer
modifications.
The cloud service provider controls the
application upgrades, security, reliability, adherence to standards,
governance, and disaster recovery mechanism for the distributed infrastructure.
