Methods, devices and computer program products for processing task

A method of processing a task, comprising:

• deriving, at a computing device, a processing result from processing the task, the task being processed by a set of computing devices comprising the computing device, and the set of computing devices deriving, from processing the task, a set of processing results comprising the processing result;
• transmitting, to a network device, the processing result to enable the network device to execute a reduction operation on the set of processing results;
• and
• receiving, from the network device, a result of the reduction operation.

A network device, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing computer program instructions, the processor executing the computer program instructions stored in the memory to cause the network device to perform acts comprising:
• receiving, from a set of computing devices, a set of processing results derived from processing the task by the set of computing devices;
• in response to receiving the set of processing results, executing a reduction operation on the set of processing results;
• and
• transmitting a result of the reduction operation to the set of computing devices.