A parallel data processing system in which a plurality of data processing
devices are coupled to a data network. Each of the data processing
devices has a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. A reward
is provided for use of the processors. A job includes a plurality of
tasks. Responsive to a request signal from one of the data processing
devices, one of the tasks is sent to the one data processing device over
the data network. The one task is stored in the memory of the one data
processing device. The processor of the one data processing device
retrieves the one task from the memory. The processor of the one data
processing device performs the one task to define a result. After
defining the result, the reward is provided to a recipient associated
with the one data processing device.