Recap: Toward Architectural Convergence
Evolution and role of software have blurred boundary
- Send/recv supported on SAS machines via buffers
- Can construct global address space on MP (GA -> P | LA)
- Page-based (or finer-grained) shared virtual memory
Hardware organization converging too
- Tighter NI integration even for MP (low-latency, high-bandwidth)
- Hardware SAS passes messages
Even clusters of workstations/SMPs are parallel systems
- Emergence of fast system area networks (SAN)
Programming models distinct, but organizations converging
- Nodes connected by general network and communication assists
- Implementations also converging, at least in high-end machines