Performance issues in distributed systems

Due to the rise of the Internet the meaning of the term "performance of distributed systems" has gradually changed and has been increasingly interpreted in a wider context. No longer performance is focused only on throughput or response time. Nowadays, performance may be interpreted as a synonym for gaining or loosing money or managing mission critical tasks like production systems being thousands of kilometers away. This article explains performance in its new context by describing prototypical scenarios needing innovative solutions in addition to the traditional ones.