Computer system and method for data access

A computer system comprising:

• one or more processing units, each processing unit including a data request engine, a processor, and local memory;
• a plurality of memory modules;
• and
• data links interconnection at least one of the one or more processing units and the plurality of memory modules;
• wherein the computer system is configured for:
• receiving a data access job at a first data request engine from a first processor of a first processing unit of the one or more processing units, specifying data to be accessed, the data access job specifying a plurality of data partitions of a source data structure distributed over the plurality of memory modules;
• generating a plurality of memory access requests at the first data request engine to request the plurality of data partitions needed to fulfill the data access job by providing the plurality of memory access requests to the plurality of memory modules using the data links extending from the first processing unit;
• handling the plurality of memory access requests including delivering the plurality of memory access requests to the plurality of memory modules, outputting the plurality of data partitions, and copying or moving the requested plurality of data partitions from the plurality of memory modules to the first processing unit via the data links;
• receiving the plurality of data partitions at the first processing unit;
• and
• performing computations using the plurality of data partitions requested by the data access job.