A CORBA-based object group service and a join service providing a transparent solution for parallel programming

The field of distributed parallel programming is predominated by tools such as the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) and the Message Passing Interface (MPI). On the other hand, mainly standards like the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Remote Method Invocation (RMI), and the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) are used for distributed computing. In this paper, we examine the suitability of CORBA-based solutions for meeting application requirements in the field of parallel programming. We outline concepts defined within CORBA which are helpful for the development of parallel applications. Subsequently, we present our design of an object group service and a join service which facilitate the development of CORBA-based distributed and parallel software applications by transparently encapsulating typical forking and joining mechanisms often needed in that context.