Parallel computer architectures are now being used in realapplications. This is shown by the large number ofapplication areas covered in this book, ranging from imageanalysis to quantum mechanics and databases. Still, the useof parallel architectures poses serious problems andrequires the development of new techniques and tools.This book is a collection of the best papers presented atthe first workshop on two major research activitiesat theUniversity of Erlangen-N}rnberg and the Technical Universityof Munich. At these universities, more than 100 researchersare working on multiprocessor systems and networkconfigurations and methods and tools for parallel systems.The book is divided into five main parts: - Hardware aspects of multiprocessor systems- Performance of parallel systems- Architectures and tools for parallelization- Modeling techniques- Applications of parallel systems.