Abstract: A computer system comprises one or more processing units and a plurality of memory locations interconnected by a plurality of data links, each processing unit comprising a data request engine and a processor. A method for accessing data in memory of the computer system, includes: receiving a data access job at a first data request engine specifying data to be accessed; and generating a plurality of memory access requests to request the plurality of data partitions needed to fulfill the data access job. The plurality of memory access requests are then delivered to the plurality of memory locations, and the plurality of data partitions are copied or moved from the plurality of memory locations to the first processing unit via the data links. The data access job specifies a plurality of data partitions of a source data structure distributed over the plurality of memory locations of the computer system.