In the early days of computer evolution, mainframe computers were heavily used in the industry. By design, the legacy mainframe was performed on a single system and was called centralized computing

A distributed system is a collection of independent computers, interconnected via a network. The core objective of the network is to collaborate and complete a particular task. Fundamentally, distributed computing is computing performed in a distributed system. Consider the following diagram:

Historically, distributed systems have been successful because of the availability of powerful and cheaper microprocessors in personal computers, embedded systems, personal digital assistant, and so on. Most importantly, the continuous advancement in communication technology has been key to their success.