In this paper we review the parallel solution of sparse linear systems,
usually deriving by the discretization of ODE-IVPs or ODE-BVPs. The approach is
based on the concept of parallel factorization of a (block) tridiagonal matrix.
This allows to obtain efficient parallel extensions of many known matrix
factorizations, and to derive, as a by-product, a unifying approach to the
parallel solution of ODEs.