ABSTRACT
Interest in distributed systems initially arose from large decentralised companies who wished to decentralise their computing facilities. Early attempts were somewhat primitive and barely deserved the label “distributed system”, but during the past 10 years there has been significant research effort aimed at providing sophisticated systems. The impetus for the increased research effort over recent years has come to a large extent from the great advances in data communications which have led to the widespread availability of cost-effective wide area and local area networks (WANs and LANs). These have made it economically feasible to transfer messages (queries, responses, mail, etc.) from computer to computer at different locations. Distributed database technology represents the merging of two major technologies: database technology and data communications technology. This paper sets the scene for this publication by putting forward some definitions of terms used in the distributed world, and looking at some of the myths and realities of distribution.
