A hiperspace is a range of up to two gigabytes of contiguous virtual storage addresses that a program can use as a buffer. Like a data space, a hiperspace holds only data, not common areas or system data; code does not execute in a hiperspace. Unlike a data space, data is not directly addressable.

To manipulate data in a hiperspace, your program brings the data, in blocks of 4K bytes, into a buffer area in its address space. The program can use the data only while it is in the address space. You can think of this buffer area as a "view" into the hiperspace. The HSPSERV macro write service performs the transfer of the data to the hiperspace. The HSPSERV read service transfers the hiperspace data back to the address space buffer area.

The data in the hiperspace and the buffer area in the address space must both start on a 4K byte boundary.

A program would use a hiperspace rather than a data space if the program needs an area outside the address space primarily for storage purposes, and not for data manipulation. If you are uncertain whether a hiperspace or a data space is the best choice for your program, see Basic decision: data space or hiperspace.