Parallel and Distributed Systems
(continued)

Parallel virtual machine

Originated at Oakridge National Laboratory and university around 1990-1991

A key foundation for programming a networked collection of computers as a single system, for both research and practical applications

Peer-to-peer

Open community, picking up steam around 2004

Significant influence on a wide variety of widely used systems, such as Skype

Databases

Researchers leave Stanford to found Google

University to start-up, 1998

Google

Data integration technologies

University and industry R&D throughout the 2000s

Fundamental impact on the “big data” movement, as seen in technologies such as Google Fusion Tables (2009)

Data-stream management systems

Industry R&D in the early 2000s

A key driver and enabler for both research and commercial developments in “big data”

XML

Broad community process in 1997; earlier SGML late 1980s

A key foundation for representation of online content on the Web and other IT-based systems

Poisson image editing

Industry R&D, 2003

A major advance in image editing, now a core of image-processing tools (like Photoshop) and associated algorithms

Image stitching

Industry and university research, circa 2005

Omnipresent, from its use in mapping services (e.g., Google Maps) to modern filmmaking and panorama features in cameras

Spherical harmonic shading

Universities, around 2002

A major advance in (relatively) low-overhead realistic shading and shadowing in computer graphics

LightStage real-time capture

Universities (especially University of Southern California), in 2002

A foundation for today’s digital image capture, used widely with particular impact in moviemaking and recognized recently with an Academy Award

Stable fluids and related methods

Universities, around 1999

The core of all image and video rendering for realistic smoke, water, and so on

Disney/Pixar labs

Industry-university partnership, in 2007

Similar to the Intel “lablet” model, for closer collaboration between industry and university research