Patent ID: 6920485

Claim:
A multi-computer system, comprising: a plurality of local nodes interconnected by a shared memory, each local node comprising a local processor, a local memory, a local communications protocol stack, and a shared memory interface system operable to provide a local shared memory network between the local nodes and a global shared memory network between the local nodes and one or more remote nodes by capturing packets from the local communications protocol stacks and routing the captured packets over the shared memory; wherein the shared memory interface system on each local node comprises a local shared memory virtual adapter and a global shared memory virtual adapter; the local shared memory virtual adapters being operable to capture locally addressed packets from the local communications protocol stacks and to route the captured packets for physical transport over the shared memory; and the global shared memory virtual adapters being operable to capture globally addressed packets from the local communications protocol stacks and to route the captured packets for physical transport over the shared memory.