The near future will see the increased use of parallel computing technologies at all levels of mainstream computing. Computer hardware increasingly employs parallel techniques to improve computing power for the solution of large-scale and computer-intensive applications. Cluster and grid technologies make possible high speed computing facilities at vastly reduced costs. These developments can be expected to result in the extended use of all types of parallel computers in virtually all areas of human endeavour. Computer-intensive problems in emerging areas such as financial modelling, data mining and multimedia systems, in addition to traditional application areas of parallel computing such as scientific computing and simulation, should lead to further progress. Parallel computing as a field of scientific research and development has already become one of the fundamental computing technologies. This volume gives an overview of developments in parallel computing at the start of the 21st century, as well as a perspective on future developments.