Technologies for ubiquitous supercomputing: a Java interface to the Nexus communication system

We use the term ubiquitous supercomputing to refer to systems that integrate low-and mid-range computing systems, advanced networks, and remote high-end computers with the goal of enhancing the computational power accessible from local environments. Such systems promise to enable new applications in areas as diverse as smart instruments and collabora-tive environments. However, they also demand tools for transporting code between computers and for establishing exible, dynamic communication structures. In this article, we propose that these requirements be sat-issed by introducing Java classes that implement the global pointer and remote service request mechanisms deened by a communication library called Nexus. Java supports transportable code; Nexus provides communication support and represents the core communication framework for Globus, a project building infrastructure for ubiquitous supercomputing. We explain how this NexusJava library is implemented and illustrate its use with examples.