Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks consist of nodes which have both client and server capabilities and on which communication and data sharing is carried on directly between nodes, rather than being arbitrated by an intermediary node. The P2P architecture was popularized by file-sharing, one of the widely-used applications of the Internet. Many applications that are based on this architecture have been developed. It also provides an efficient platform to harness the computing power of a network of desktop computers. P2P computing power can help solve computationally complex problems that require powerful supercomputers. However, it has not been as widely used as the file-sharing P2P applications. Almost all of the current P2P computing applications are noncommercial endeavors. Users make their computing power available for these endeavors because they believe in the applications\u27 objectives, for example, the SETI project analyzes radio telescope data in the quest for life in other parts of the universe.
This thesis proposes P2PCompute - a viable commercial model in the P2P computing field. It harnesses existing technologies- P2P, Java, the Internet and the UDDI registry, to enable distributed processing of tasks on multiple servers. It is well-suited to the heterogeneous environment on the Internet and has the potential to provide the spark that would lead to the development of more commercial P2P computing applications
