Virtual Private Computing

There is still no widely accepted system to exploit the capabilities offered by the tremendously grown number of computers connected to the Internet or to large intranets. Missing abstractions as well as deficiencies of software development prevent the effective use of more than two computers by standard applications. The architecture that is presented in this report overcomes these problems by creating a vision of a Virtual Private Computer, which combines all participating machines and presents them as a large, omnipresent computer. Beside several services that are essential to realize this system, a programming model is introduced that supports the development of applications that are composed of components, which can be automatically distributed over the virtual computer. Several examples will show how this architecture is capable of realizing all usual distribution paradigms, and how it supports fully distributed applications. Moreover the paper indicates how applications and special areas like mobile computing can benefit from such a system.