Analyzing performance of large scale parallel systems

The authors study the impact of parallel processing overhead and the degree of concurrency of a parallel algorithm on the optimal number of processors to be used when the criterion for optimality is minimizing the parallel execution time. They evaluate a more general criterion of optimality and show how operating at the optimal point is equivalent to operating at a unique value of efficiency, which is a characteristic of the criterion of optimality and the properties of the parallel system under study. The technical results derived are put in perspective with similar results that have appeared in the literature. It is shown that this study generalizes and/or extends these earlier results