A simulation study of hardware-oriented DSM approaches

Distributed shared memory (DSM) combines the advantages of shared-memory multiprocessors and distributed computer systems. Evaluations of four experimental or commercial approaches to hardware DSM show its potential for large-scale, high-performance multiprocessor systems. Such an analysis helps in developing guidelines and practical recommendations to further improve existing systems. The four approaches are Dash (Directory Architecture for Shared Memory), SCI (Scalable Coherent Interface), DDM (Data Diffusion Machine) and KSR1 (Kendall Square Research-1).