This paper presents and characterizes the Princeton Application Repository for Shared-Memory Computers (PARSEC), a benchmark suite for studies of Chip-Multiprocessors (CMPs). Previous available benchmarks for multiprocessors have focused on high-performance computing applications and used a limited number of synchronization methods. PARSEC includes emerging applications in recognition, mining and synthesis (RMS) as well as systems applications which mimic large-scale multithreaded commercial programs. Our characterization shows that the benchmark suite covers a wide spectrum of working sets, locality, data sharing, synchronization and off-chip traffic. The benchmark suite has been made available to the public.

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The PARSEC benchmark suite: characterization and architectural implications

National Institute of Standards and Technology における超伝導研究及び生活

Benchmarking has become one of the most important methods for quantitative performance evaluation of processor and computer system designs. Benchmarking of modern multiprocessors such as chip multiprocessors is challenging because of their application domain, scalability and parallelism requirements. In my thesis, I have developed a methodology to design effective benchmark suites and demonstrated its effectiveness by developing and deploying a benchmark suite for evaluating multiprocessors. 
More specifically, this thesis includes several contributions. First, the thesis shows that a new benchmark suite for multiprocessors is needed because the behavior of modern parallel programs is significantly different from those represented by SPLASH-2, the most popular parallel benchmark suite developed over ten years ago. Second, the thesis quantitatively describes the requirements and characteristics of a set of multithreaded programs and their underlying technology trends. Third, the thesis presents a systematic approach to scale and select benchmark inputs with the goal of optimizing benchmarking accuracy subject to constrained execution or simulation time. Finally, the thesis describes a parallel benchmark suite called PARSEC for evaluating modern shared-memory multiprocessors. Since its initial release, PARSEC has been adopted by many architecture groups in both research and industry.

Benchmarking modern multiprocessors

This paper describes a network storage system, called Venti, intended for archival data In this system, a unique hash of a block's contents acts as the block identifier for read and write operations This approach enforces a write-once policy, preventing accidental or malicious destruction of data In addition, duplicate copies of a block can be coalesced, reducing the consumption of storage and simplifying the implementation of clients Venti is a building block for constructing a variety of storage applications such as logical backup, physical backup, and snapshot file systems

We have built a prototype of the system and present some preliminary performance results The system uses magnetic disks as the storage technology, resulting in an access time for archival data that is comparable to non-archival data The feasibility of the write-once model for storage is demonstrated using data from over a decade's use of two Plan 9 file systems

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Venti: A New Approach to Archival Storage

During the last decade, CD-quality digital audio has essentially replaced analog audio. Emerging digital audio applications for network, wireless, and multimedia computing systems face a series of constraints such as reduced channel bandwidth, limited storage capacity, and low cost. These new applications have created a demand for high-quality digital audio delivery at low bit rates. In response to this need, considerable research has been devoted to the development of algorithms for perceptually transparent coding of high-fidelity (CD-quality) digital audio. As a result, many algorithms have been proposed, and several have now become international and/or commercial product standards. This paper reviews algorithms for perceptually transparent coding of CD-quality digital audio, including both research and standardization activities. This paper is organized as follows. First, psychoacoustic principles are described, with the MPEG psychoacoustic signal analysis model 1 discussed in some detail. Next, filter bank design issues and algorithms are addressed, with a particular emphasis placed on the modified discrete cosine transform, a perfect reconstruction cosine-modulated filter bank that has become of central importance in perceptual audio coding. Then, we review methodologies that achieve perceptually transparent coding of FM- and CD-quality audio signals, including algorithms that manipulate transform components, subband signal decompositions, sinusoidal signal components, and linear prediction parameters, as well as hybrid algorithms that make use of more than one signal model. These discussions concentrate on architectures and applications of those techniques that utilize psychoacoustic models to exploit efficiently masking characteristics of the human receiver. Several algorithms that have become international and/or commercial standards receive in-depth treatment, including the ISO/IEC MPEG family (-1, -2, -4), the Lucent Technologies PAC/EPAC/MPAC, the Dolby AC-2/AC-3, and the Sony ATRAC/SDDS algorithms. Then, we describe subjective evaluation methodologies in some detail, including the ITU-R BS.1116 recommendation on subjective measurements of small impairments. This paper concludes with a discussion of future research directions.

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Perceptual coding of digital audio

By the mid 1980 s, the trend in computing was away from large centralized time-shared computers towards networks of smaller, personal machines, typically UNIX worksta­ tions . People had grown weary of overloaded, bureaucratic timesharing machines and were eager to move to small, self-maintained systems, even if that meant a net loss in computing power. As microcomputers became faster, even that loss was recovered, and this style of computing remains popular today.

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Plan 9 from Bell Labs

Data storage techniques particularly well-suited for use in archival data storage are disclosed. In one aspect of the invention, a data block is processed to generate an address as a function of the contents of the data block, and the data block is then stored in the system in a memory location identified by the address. The processing operation is configured to provide write-once archival storage of the data block, in that the contents of the data block are not modifiable without also altering the address of the data block determinable in the processing operation. In an illustrative embodiment, the processing of the data block involves determining a substantially unique identifier of the data block by applying a collision-resistant hash function to the contents of the data block, and the address is subsequently determined from the substantially unique identifier by utilizing the identifier to perform a lookup of the address in an index.

Method and apparatus for archival data storage

Venti: A New Approach to Archival Data Storage

The Inferno™ operating system facilitates the creation and support of distributed services in the new and emerging world of network environments, such as those typified by CATV and direct satellite broadcasting systems, as well as the Internet. In addition, as the entertainment, telecommunications, and computing industries converge and interconnect, different types of data networks are arising, each one as potentially useful and profitable as the telephone network. However, unlike the telephone system, which started with standard terminals and signaling, these new networks are developing in a world of diverse terminals, network hardware, and protocols. Inferno is designed so that it can insulate the diverse providers of content and services from the equally varied transport and presentation platforms. The Inferno Business Unit of Lucent Technologies and the Computing Sciences Research Center of Bell Labs, the R&D arm of Lucent, designed it specifically as a commercial product. It is intended for licensing in the marketplace and for use in conjunction with new Lucent offerings. Inferno incorporates many years of Bell Labs research in operating systems, languages, on-the-fly compilers, graphics, security, networking, and portability in providing an effective and economical network operating system.

Sean Matthew Dorward

Papers

Venti: A New Approach to Archival Storage

Plan 9 from Bell Labs

Method and apparatus for archival data storage

Venti: A New Approach to Archival Data Storage

The Inferno™ operating system