Over the last decades, graphics processing units
have developed from special-purpose graphics accelerators to
general-purpose massively parallel co-processors. In recent years
they gained increased traction in high performance computing,
as they provide superior computational performance in terms of
runtime and energy consumption for a wide range of problems. In
this survey, we review their employment in distributed computing
for a broad range of application scenarios. Common characteristics
and a classification of the most relevant use cases are
described. Furthermore, we discuss possible future developments
of the use of general purpose graphics processing units in the
area of service-oriented architecture. The aim of this work is to
inspire future research in this field and to give guidelines on when
and how to incorporate this new hardware technology.