Distributed Shared-Memory for a Workstation Cluster with a High Speed Serial Interface

In this paper, we introduce a distributed shared-memory system with a high speed serial communication interface called STAFF-Link. STAFF-Link is adopted in massively parallel computer JUMP-1 as I/O links between processing elements and an I/O subsystem consisting of many I/O units as well as an I/O network among I/O units. In this project, we have designed and manufacutured a STAFF-Link interface and a router board, however the network interface is able to be utilized for a high performance workstation cluster. In the workstation cluster, we have implemented a distributed shared-memory system based on a software controlled cache. We introduce the DSM system of the workstation cluster, and then we insist that high speed serial communication with many links is one of the solutions for future parallel processing environments.

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