metacomputer

English

Etymology

From meta- +‎ computer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmɛtəkəmˈpjuːtə/

Noun

metacomputer (plural metacomputers)

1. A grid or cluster of computers that work together on a problem as a single system.
   • 1997, Marian Bubak, Jack Dongarra, Jerzy Wasniewski, editors, Recent Advances in Parallel Virtual Machine and Message Passing Interface: 4th European PVM/MPI User's Group Meeting Cracow, Poland, November 3-5, 1997, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 1332), illustrated edition, Springer Science & Business Media, page 198:

     The Polder metacomputer initiative is an ambitious project that aims to provide an experimental framework for metacomputer design tradeoffs and gradually build a metacomputer environment that organizes heterogeneous distributed resources into one single computer environment with a unified access.

   • 2003, Peter Kropf, Gilbert Babin, John Plaice, Herwig Unger, editors, Distributed Communities on the Web: Third International Workshop, DCW 2000, Quebec City, Canada, June 19-21, 2000, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 1830), illustrated edition, Springer, page 165:

     A metacomputer comprises many computers and terabytes of memory in a loose confederation, tied together by a network.

   • 2023, John Tinnell, The Philosopher of Palo Alto: Mark Weiser, Xerox PARC, and the Original Internet of Things, unabridged edition, University of Chicago Press, page 150:

     The recognition of employee badges converts the building into a kind of metacomputer that accommodates each staff member's stated preferences as he or she nears.

Related terms

• metacomputing
• supercomputer

See also

• parallel computing