Remotely Accessed Computer Systems and Specialized Computer Systems
Remotely Accessed Computer Systems
There can be many remotely accessed computer systems available today and most of them makes the client-server model. A server can be a big, high-capability computer exists somewhere , and the clients are the other computers located elsewhere which access the server through the Internet or a private network. Clients access servers for a attaining the services and many more. Remote access can be done in the same way.
The following are the different kinds of remote access computer systems
Mobile Apps
Mobile apps are simple applications/programs that run on smartphones and tablets.Some mobile apps run alone on the device like calender app, message app etc. , but most of the apps connect to servers on the Internet for attaining services. For example a Rozee app on the smartphones as shown in the figure below can attain the services from the Rozee server through the Internet. Although the app itself resides on the phone but it is useless without a connection to the server.
Streaming Media
A video or music downloaded from the Internet, we can play that anytime when we want even if our system is not connected to the Internet because that is stored on the hard drive of our system. Streaming, on the other hand, is that the system plays the clip if we want when it is connected to the Internet. For example a soundcloud app on the smartphones plays music clips when connected to the Internet.
Web Apps
With a Web apps, we can run an application directly from the Internet via a Web browser. We don’t need to download or install any app; the app remains on the remote server, and we access it from anywhere when our system is connected to the Internet. These are helpful when our system does not have enough space for installing the app.
There can be many web apps today which have made our work easy and comfortable. One of the common web app is CV Maker. We can make Resumes on the web app and the file can be downloaded in different format as for our need.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of computer’s hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet. Web apps are examples of cloud computing through which we can access the data and perform different types of processes on that. Many of the business companies have started Cloud computing, for example businesses with several different office locations can set up a software interface that employees use to do their work via Web-based applications from anywhere in the world. When an employee enters transactions via the online application, the data is only saved to the company’s server.
The most common example of the cloud computing is using the online MS office by the Microsoft. We can write and edit the document in online Microsoft office application through the internet when we don’t have installed version of Microsoft office in our system. When we complete the document written in MS word, then it can be stored online or can also be downloaded in the required format.
Virtualization
Virtualization helps us to run more than one Operating system on single computer. This can be done through installing the application on the system which creates virtual computer on our system and then configuring our desired virtual machine in that app and at last installing our desired OS in that Virtual machine. So there can be two types of OS on our system when virtual computer is installed. The first one is the PC’s “real” OS which is known as the host OS, and the PC itself is the host PC. The secondary operating system installed inside the host OS is known as the guest OS.
There are different kinds of applications that creates virtual computer within our systems and these include VMware, Oracle VM VirtualBoxft , and Microsoft Hyper-V.
SPECIALIZED COMPUTER SYSTEMS
Currently we see the computers everywhere which have made our work easier and well organized. There are hundreds of special-purpose computer systems that perform special tasks that have made our lives comfortable and easy. Some of the special purpose computer systems are
• PoS (Point-of-sale terminals)
• ATMs (Automated Teller Machine)
• GPS (Global Positioning System)
• VoIP( Voice over IP/telepresence)
Point-of-Sale Terminals
Point-of-sale (PoS) terminals are used for the purchase transactions. When someone doesn’t have cash in his/her pocket and he goes to the restaurant and makes an order by selecting the dishes of his choice on the screen, he then pays his bill through the PoS Terminal by swiping his credit card through the card reader and makes his payment. There are huge number of PoS terminals used today in almost every retail business process. The Point of sale Terminal in Restaurant is shown in the figure below.
You can watch bellow video regarding Restaurant Point of Sale Terminal.
ATMs
An automated teller machine is a computerized machine that allows bank customers to gain access to their accounts with a magnetically encoded plastic card and a PIN (Personal Identification) number. It enables the customers to perform several banking operations without the help of a teller, such as to withdraw cash, make deposits, pay bills, obtain bank statements, effect cash transfers. Banking customers have access to their money 24/7 by visiting an ATM terminal and inserting their ATM card.
The story behind working of the ATM is that when a cardholder wants to do an ATM transaction, he or she provides the necessary information by means of the card reader and keypad through inserting his PIN. The ATM forwards this information to the host processor, which routes the transaction request to the cardholder’s bank. If the cardholder is requesting cash, the host processor causes an electronic funds transfer request to take place from the customer’s bank account to the host processor’s account. Once the funds are transferred to the host processor’s bank account, the processor sends an approval code to the ATM authorizing the machine to give out the cash. So when you request cash, the money moves electronically from your account to the host’s account.
GPS
The GPS stands for Global Positioning System and it is also an application of the special purpose computer system. The whole GPS system is an American system which is used to locate the position of anything on the earth in a real time. It contains a series of satellites that orbit Earth at an altitude of about 20,000 kilometers. A GPS receiver unit which is a kind of computing device within the system or outside a system and it requires data from at least three satellites to figure out the exact location. It calculates the position of anything from each satellite by determining the distance through the speed formula of physics. Based on that data, it calculates a 2D position of longitude and latitude, accurate to within a few feet.
The original GPS units were stand-alone devices, but today’s smartphones and cars integrate GPS receivers with navigation applications that have become very popular with everyday consumers for finding the position of any location and receiving the proper route map through it.
I will recommend you to watch the below video in order to have a thorough concept of the GPS system.
VoIP/Telepresence
VoIP stands for Voice over IP is a kind of internet technology by which we can send both voice and data through the internet for making audio calls, sending voice messages and even making video calls. VoIP and wireless mobile have almost took over the telephony call and the traditional landline telephone calls are almost diminished in today’s era. VoIP translates audio data into digital packets that can be sent on computer networks, just like any other kind of network traffic. VoIP phone services such as Skype provides additional features such as teleconferencing and telepresence.
Teleconferencing means having a conference or meeting via telephone by the video call. Teleconferencing uses a video camera and microphone at each end of the conversation, with VoIP service software like Skype to provide the connection.
Telepresence is same as the teleconferencing but it provides a high-quality video-conferencing/meeting. This is done with the help of the special equipment to create an immersive environment where the remote user feels almost present at the meeting.
At last I will suggest the video to watch for Teleconferencing and Telepresence applications by the Cisco.
Thanks for Reading and watching…!!!
