ICatalyst

Author - Ronan

FaaS

What is FaaS (Function as a Service)?

What is FaaS? FaaS (Function as a Service) is a type of cloud computing that allows developers to execute code in response to an event, without needing to deal with the complicated server setup infrastructure typically involved in cloud-hosted applications. When running an application on the web, you need to set up a server, operating system and server software for hosting services that you expose to the web. With FaaS, all of this setup is handled automatically by the platform provider. No need to deal with hardware settings, server software setup and management of tasks to keep this all running. The functions in FaaS applications are all that need to be taken care of. FaaS vs Serverless First off, serverless is more of a marketing term than a technical term, as everything on the web is on some sort of server. It’s premise is about making a developer’s life easier by taking the hassle out of setting up and managing various aspects of a server in order for their applications to run...

Leaking bucket

The Volunteer Computing Fallacy

Volunteer Computing is important.  There are many areas of science and engineering that have benefited from volunteer computing. This is a type of distributed computing that sources compute from the public. Platforms such as BOINC, Folding@home and others have opened up the world of citizen science to computer owners in the most passive way possible. Your computer rarely maxes out its computing potential. In fact, it typically runs at 40-60% power, leaving the remaining potential unused. So while your working on your next novel or facebook post, you can help solve the world’s most pressing issues.  Through Volunteer Computing, scientists have gained access to precious compute power for their projects. Projects, that otherwise would have been unable to proceed due to time or cost limitations. That means that for every second of compute performed in these platforms, we are closer to finding a cure for cancer, understanding the fabric of the universe or improving agriculture. So, what’s...

Globe networked

What is Distributed Computing?

There is an increasing demand in the world for compute power. With recent advances in technology, the popularity of distributed systems to answer this problem is becoming more viable. 

In this post, I will describe Distributed Computing, why it is used, how it works and a few examples of how it is applied in business and scientific research.

Cray HPC

What is HPC?

Climate change, mapping the human genome, unravelling the mysteries of black holes and structural engineering are all scientific areas that share something in common. They all require lots of computing power. Commercial industries also consume a lot of compute power for things such as; financial market analysis, oil & gas exploration, movie special effects, artificial intelligence and machine learning.