Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

groupware 217In 1989 an open-source cluster solution called ParallelVirtual Machine (PVM) was developed. These clusterscould mix and match any computers that could connectover a TCP/IP network (i.e., the Internet).Current Implementations and ApplicationsClusters made from hundreds of desktop-class computerprocessors can achieve supercomputer levels of performanceat comparatively low prices. An example is the System Xsupercomputer cluster at Virginia Tech, which generates12.25 TFlops (trillion floating point operations per second)from 1100 Apple XServe G5 dual-processor desktops runningMac OS X.Additional savings and flexibility can be found inBeowulf clusters, which use standard commodity PCs runningopen-source operating systems (such as Linux) andsoftware such as the Globus Toolkit.Another type of implementation is the “ad hoc” computergrid. These are projects where users sign up to receiveand process work packets using their PC’s otherwise idletime. Examples include SETI@Home (search for extraterrestrialintelligence) and Folding@Home (protein-foldingcalculations). For more on this type of arrangement, seecooperative processing.Although there has been some recent interest in enterprisegrids, most grid computing applications are in science.The world’s most powerful computer grid, TeraGrid,is funded by the National Science Foundation and tiestogether major supercomputing and advanced computinginstallations at universities and government laboratories.Current applications for TeraGrid include weather and climateforecasting, earthquake simulation, epidemiology, andmedical visualization.Further ReadingGlobus Toolkit Homepage. Available online. URL: http://www.globus.org/toolkit/. Accessed September 23, 2007.Haynos, Matt. “Perspectives on Grid: Grid Computing—Next-Generation Distributed Computing.” IBM, January 27, 2004.Available online. URL: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/grid/library/gr-heritage/. Accessed September 23, 2007.Kacsuk, Peter, Thomas Fahringer, and Zsolt Nemeth. Distributedand Parallel Systems: From Cluster to Grid Computing. NewYork: Springer Science/Business Media, 2007.Kopper, Karl. Linux Enterprise Cluster: Build a Highly AvailableCluster with Commodity Hardware and Free Software. SanFrancisco: No Starch Press, 2005.Plaszczak, Pawel, and Richard Wellner, Jr. Grid Computing: The SavvyManager’s Guide. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufman, 2006.Robbins, Stuart. Lessons in Grid Computing: The System Is a Mirror.New York: Wiley, 2006.TeraGrid. Available online. URL: http://www.teragrid.org/. AccessedSeptember 23, 2007.groupwareWhen PCs were first introduced into the business world,they tended to be used in isolation. Individual workerswould prepare documents such as spreadsheets and databasereports and then print them out and distribute themas memos, much in the way of traditional paper documents.However, as computers began to be tied together into localarea networks (see local area network) in the 1980s,focus began to shift toward the use of software to facilitatecommunication, coordination, and collaboration amongworkers. This loosely defined genre of software was dubbedgroupware.Popular groupware software suites such as Lotus Notesand Microsoft Exchange generally offer at least some of thefollowing features:• e-mail coordination, including the creation of group ortask-oriented mail lists• shared calendar, giving each participant informationabout all upcoming events• meeting management, including scheduling (ensuringcompatibility with everyone’s existing schedule)and facilities booking• scheduling tasks with listing of persons responsiblefor each task, progress (milestones met), and checkingoff completed tasks• real-time “chat” or instant message capabilities• documentation systems that allow a number of peopleto make comments on the same document and seeand respond to each other’s comments• “whiteboard” systems that allow multiple users todraw a diagram or chart in real time, with everyoneable to see and possibly modify itGroupware is increasingly integrated with the Internet,with documents and shared resources (calendars, schedules,and so on) implemented in HTML as Web pages orWeb-linked databases. (See also personal informationmanager.)An attractive alternative to locally installed groupwareis a suite of collaboration and productivity applicationsdelivered directly via the Web and accessible using onlya Web browser. Google introduced such a package calledGoogle Apps in 2007. It has a free basic version but isexpected to offer fee-based enhanced services for largerorganizations.Groupware is likely to be an increasingly importantaspect of institutional information processing in a global,mobile economy. With workgroups often geographicallydistributed (as well as including telecommuters), traditionalface-to-face meetings become increasingly impractical aswell as often being considered wasteful and inefficient. Newforms of collaboration are supplementing the traditional e-mail and conferencing (see blogs and blogging and wikisand Wikipedia). Wikis are particularly interesting in thatthey can not only track current resources, but also providea knowledge base with lasting value.Further ReadingAndriessen, J. H. Erik. Working with Groupware: Understandingand Evaluating Collaboration Technology. New York: Springer,2003.Boles, David. Google Apps Administrator Guide: A Private-Label WebWorkspace. Boston: Course Technology, 2007.