The first instances of computation offloading were the use of simple sub-processors to handle Input/output processing through a separate system called Channel I/O.
This concept improved overall system performance as the mainframe only needed to set parameters for the operations while the channel processors carried out the I/O formatting and processing.
The availability of virtual computers allowed users to offload tasks from a local processor.
The first concept of linking large mainframes to provide an effective form of parallelism was developed in the 1960s by IBM.
Cluster computing was used by IBM was to increase hardware, operating system, and software performance while allowing users to run existing applications.
This concept gained momentum during the 1980s as high-performance microprocessors and high-speed networks, tools for high performance distributed computing, emerged.
Clusters could efficiently split and offload computation to individual nodes for increased performance while also gaining scalability.
[2] Computational tasks are handled by a central processor which executes instructions by carrying out rudimentary arithmetic, control logic, and input/output operations.
The efficiency of computational tasks is dependent on the instructions per seconds that a CPU can perform which vary with different types of processors.
[7] Clusters employ a parallel programming model which requires fast interconnection technologies to support high-bandwidth and low latency for communication between nodes.
Splitting computational tasks over multiple machines significantly reduces processing time to increase efficiency and minimize wasted resources.
Platform as a service (PaaS) is a development environment where software can be built, tested, and deployed without the user having to focus on building and maintaining computational infrastructure.
Despite the constant development in key components including; CPU, GPU, memory, and wireless access technologies; mobile devices need to be portable and energy efficient.