For decades, increases in the speeds of computer networks trailed the exponentially accelerating speed of microprocessor chips. Now the balance between the power of computer processing and networking has fundamentally reversed, and the rapid rise of transmission speeds is beginning to have a revolutionary impact on how computers are used and what they can do, as computing becomes distributed on a global basis.

The new epoch of computing has been described as grid computing, on-demand computing, utility computing, the planetary computer and Web 2.0.