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Summary: Towards Transparent and Efficient
Software Distributed Shared Memory
Daniel J. Scales andKourosh Gharachorloo
WesternResearchLaboratory
DigitalEquipmentCorporation
{scales,kourosh}@pa.dec,com
Abstract
Despite a large research effort, software distributed shared mem-
ory systems have not been widely used to run parallel applications
across clusters of computers. The higher performance of hardware
multiprocessors makes them the preferred platform for develop-
ing and executing applications. In addition, most applications are
distributed only in binary format for a handful of popular hardware
systems. Due to their limited functionality, software systems cannot
directly execute the applications developed for hardware platforms.
We have developed a system called Shasta that attempts to address
the issues of efficiency and transparency that have hindered wider
acceptanceof software systems. Shastais adistributedsharedmem-
ory system that supports coherence at a fine granularity in software
and can efficiently exploit small-scale SMP nodes by allowing pro-
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