JToe:: a Java']Java* API for object exchange

This paper presents JToe, an API dedicated to the exchange of Java objects in the context of high performance computing. Even though Java RMI provides a good framework for distributed objects in general, it is known to be quite inefficient, mainly due to the Java serialization process. Many projects have already improved RMI either by redesigning and reimplementing it or by reimplementing the serialization process. We claim that both approaches are missing a clear and high level API for the exchange of objects. JToe proposes a new simple API that focuses on the exchange of objects. This API is flexible enough to allow. for instance. direct copy of byte streams representation of JVM objects over a specialized transport layer such as Myrinet or LAPI. Remote method invocation frameworks such as Java RMI can then be implemented over JToe with good performance enhancement perspectives.