9406785 Mizuno This three-year award supports U.S.-France cooperative research in computer operating systems and system software. The investigators are Masaaki Mizuno, Gurdip Singh of Kansas State University, Mitchell Neilsen, Oklahoma State University and Michel Raynal of the University of Rennes and INRIA (French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics). The objective of their research is to study the definitions and implementations of distributed shared memory systems by developing a general framework for classifying protocols and for evaluating efficient implementations. They will develop protocols suited to different computer architectures. The U.S. investigators bring to this collaboration expertise in mathematical analysis, computer architectures, and software implementation. This is complemented by French expertise in broad areas of distributed computing. The project also takes advantage of a large array of equipment at INRIA, including a distributed parallel machine (a Hypercube with 32 processors), which will be used in the implementation studies. Distributed shared memory systems are important because they simplify programming. This project will further understanding of these systems and its results could be applied to replication of databases and distributed file systems in a high performance computing environment. ***
