The high-performance computing continuum

Just as in the worldwide PC environment, high-end systems are increasingly ubiquitous, continuous, and pervasive. The ability and capacity of computing systems continue to increase at an ever-quickening pace. This trend is perhaps most evident in desktop computers, where increased performance manifests itself as a proliferation in the number and types of services available. Such computers, now found in tens of millions of homes and businesses around the world, may be on their way to being truly ubiquitous. Meanwhile, the emergence of the WorldWide Web has produced another trend—the dynamic use of multiple physical computer systems viewed by the end user as a single system. Such systems might be considered continuous. A third trend is the implementation of interfaces that abstract the use of the computer from the details of its hardware and software configuration—a quality we might call " pervasiveness. " The Web is again an example, but there are many others.