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