Using AVS to Implement Heterogenous Distributed Applications on NPAC Metacomputer Marek Podgorny, Gang Cheng, Roman Markowski, Wojtek Furmanski, Salim Hariri, and Geoffrey Fox Northeast Parallel Architectures Center at Syracuse University 111 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13244-4100 Tel: (315) 443-4879 Fax: (315) 443-1973 Email: podgorny@npac.syr.edu Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC) at Syracuse University offers unique distributed computing environment. In addition to MIMD architectures, including TMC CM5, IBM SP1, Intel iPSC860, and nCUBE, also SIMD machines (two DECmpp's) and workstation clusters (DEC Alphas with Gigaswitch and IBM RS/6000 with Allnode switch) form a complex testbed. NPAC resources are connected by state- of-the-art network, including FDDI, HiPPI, and ATM technologies. The entire complex is accessible via NYNET - New York State ATM network. During the past year we have used AVS to implement a number of distributed applications running in NPAC metacomputer. The main research/implementation trusts included: - integration of AVS with message passing libraries like PVM and P4. Due to this integration we were able to run AVS modules on parallel platforms and integrate heterogenous applications. Further, we have used message passing libraries to achieve additional inter-module communication and temporal synchronization - implementation of several distributed applications using NPAC metacomputer. These applications were tested in different network environments, including ATM - based WANs - extension of AVS capabilities by integration with High Performance Fortran Interpreter as a step towards High Performance AVS, a platform independent visualization/distributed environment for parallel machines - using AVS to implement "live demos", accessible from outside the Center via Mosaic interface and actually using parallel and distributed platforms to carry out complex tasks. The paper gives an overview of AVS-related activities in NPAC and describes few of the applications in detail.