1. A Parallel Processing Communication Accelerator (PPCA) for enhancing performance of a Parallel Processing Environment (PPE) formed of a plurality of computing nodes, the PPCA comprising: a microprocessing unit (MPU); a memory comprising RAM and coupled to the MPU; a PPE connection for communicating data with other nodes within the parallel processing environment; a host node connection for communicating with a host node; a Message Passing Interface (MPI) devolver for (1) communicating with an MPI implemented on the host node to provide optimized communication between a parallel application of the host node and the parallel processing environment, and for (2) processing at least a portion ofthe MPI including one or more ofMPl collective-commands, MPI blocking commands, MPI group commands, and MPI topology; and firmware for holographic checkpoint functionality including instructions for saving an operational state of the host node within the memory and for exchanging the operational state with other PPCAs such that at least one node within the parallel processing environment may resume execution of a portion of the parallel application from the saved operational state.