Coalescing Idle Workstations as a Multiprocessor System using Javaspaces and Java Web Start

This paper describes a distributed system which aggregates the unused and usually wasted processing capacity of idle workstations. The aggregation is achieved through the use of now ubiquitous internet infrastructure and web technology. And, it delivers a powerful yet inexpensive execution environment for computationally intensive applications. The prototype system described here makes use of Sun Microsystems Jini technology, particularly JavaSpaces, along with Java Web Start, to produce a dynamic, flexible and reliable system. Two example applications used to evaluate the system are described: (a) the n-Queens problem and (b) a parallel sorting (shearsort) application. The results of the evaluation clearly show that, for certain classes of applications, the system is capable of delivering significant performance.