arallel synchronous

To speed up production systems, many researchers have turned to parallel implementations. We describe a system called PARS that executes production rules in parallel. PARS is novel because it (1) executes many rules simultaneously, (2) runs in a highly asynchronous fashion, and (3) runs on a distributed memory machine. Item (1) improves available concurrency over systems that only perform the MATCH step in parallel. Item (2) reduces bottlenecks over synchronous parallel production systems. Item (3) makes the techniques more available given the lower cost of distributed versus shared memory machines. The two main problems regarding correctness, namely serialization and the maintenance of consistent distributed databases, are addressed and solved. Estimates of the effectiveness of this approach are also given.