The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

distributed system
distributed systems

   A collection of (probably heterogeneous) automata whose
   distribution is transparent to the user so that the system
   appears as one local machine.  This is in contrast to a
   network, where the user is aware that there are several
   machines, and their location, storage replication, load
   balancing and functionality is not transparent.  Distributed
   systems usually use some kind of client-server organisation.

   Distributed systems are considered by some to be the "next
   wave" of computing.

   Distributed Computing Environment is the Open Software
   Foundation's software architecture for distributed systems.

   (http://dstc.edu.au/AU/research_news/dist-env.html).

   (1994-12-06)