diff --git a/maskrcnn_benchmark/engine/inference.py b/maskrcnn_benchmark/engine/inference.py
index b003f1a48a761a149cfe27c7aa06189c16aa2774..29576a50d76bf44202bdf634290b693ad9cab4b0 100644
--- a/maskrcnn_benchmark/engine/inference.py
+++ b/maskrcnn_benchmark/engine/inference.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from tqdm import tqdm
 
 from maskrcnn_benchmark.data.datasets.evaluation import evaluate
 from ..utils.comm import is_main_process
-from ..utils.comm import scatter_gather
+from ..utils.comm import all_gather
 from ..utils.comm import synchronize
 
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ def compute_on_dataset(model, data_loader, device):
 
 
 def _accumulate_predictions_from_multiple_gpus(predictions_per_gpu):
-    all_predictions = scatter_gather(predictions_per_gpu)
+    all_predictions = all_gather(predictions_per_gpu)
     if not is_main_process():
         return
     # merge the list of dicts
diff --git a/maskrcnn_benchmark/utils/comm.py b/maskrcnn_benchmark/utils/comm.py
index 4a3fb1a3b373117990fc3e3548695b73f7c958a1..fce564dd18185c046ea2d763e4b4f5d4c56e7b76 100644
--- a/maskrcnn_benchmark/utils/comm.py
+++ b/maskrcnn_benchmark/utils/comm.py
@@ -1,52 +1,46 @@
-# Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
 """
 This file contains primitives for multi-gpu communication.
 This is useful when doing distributed training.
 """
 
-import os
 import pickle
-import tempfile
 import time
 
 import torch
+import torch.distributed as dist
 
 
 def get_world_size():
-    if not torch.distributed.is_available():
+    if not dist.is_available():
         return 1
-    if not torch.distributed.is_initialized():
+    if not dist.is_initialized():
         return 1
-    return torch.distributed.get_world_size()
+    return dist.get_world_size()
 
 
 def get_rank():
-    if not torch.distributed.is_available():
+    if not dist.is_available():
         return 0
-    if not torch.distributed.is_initialized():
+    if not dist.is_initialized():
         return 0
-    return torch.distributed.get_rank()
+    return dist.get_rank()
 
 
 def is_main_process():
-    if not torch.distributed.is_available():
-        return True
-    if not torch.distributed.is_initialized():
-        return True
-    return torch.distributed.get_rank() == 0
+    return get_rank() == 0
 
 
 def synchronize():
     """
-    Helper function to synchronize between multiple processes when
+    Helper function to synchronize (barrier) among all processes when
     using distributed training
     """
-    if not torch.distributed.is_available():
+    if not dist.is_available():
         return
-    if not torch.distributed.is_initialized():
+    if not dist.is_initialized():
         return
-    world_size = torch.distributed.get_world_size()
-    rank = torch.distributed.get_rank()
+    world_size = dist.get_world_size()
+    rank = dist.get_rank()
     if world_size == 1:
         return
 
@@ -55,7 +49,7 @@ def synchronize():
             tensor = torch.tensor(0, device="cuda")
         else:
             tensor = torch.tensor(1, device="cuda")
-        torch.distributed.broadcast(tensor, r)
+        dist.broadcast(tensor, r)
         while tensor.item() == 1:
             time.sleep(1)
 
@@ -64,94 +58,73 @@ def synchronize():
     _send_and_wait(1)
 
 
-def _encode(encoded_data, data):
-    # gets a byte representation for the data
-    encoded_bytes = pickle.dumps(data)
-    # convert this byte string into a byte tensor
-    storage = torch.ByteStorage.from_buffer(encoded_bytes)
-    tensor = torch.ByteTensor(storage).to("cuda")
-    # encoding: first byte is the size and then rest is the data
-    s = tensor.numel()
-    assert s <= 255, "Can't encode data greater than 255 bytes"
-    # put the encoded data in encoded_data
-    encoded_data[0] = s
-    encoded_data[1 : (s + 1)] = tensor
-
-
-def _decode(encoded_data):
-    size = encoded_data[0]
-    encoded_tensor = encoded_data[1 : (size + 1)].to("cpu")
-    return pickle.loads(bytearray(encoded_tensor.tolist()))
-
-
-# TODO try to use tensor in shared-memory instead of serializing to disk
-# this involves getting the all_gather to work
-def scatter_gather(data):
+def all_gather(data):
     """
-    This function gathers data from multiple processes, and returns them
-    in a list, as they were obtained from each process.
-
-    This function is useful for retrieving data from multiple processes,
-    when launching the code with torch.distributed.launch
-
-    Note: this function is slow and should not be used in tight loops, i.e.,
-    do not use it in the training loop.
-
-    Arguments:
-        data: the object to be gathered from multiple processes.
-            It must be serializable
-
+    Run all_gather on arbitrary picklable data (not necessarily tensors)
+    Args:
+        data: any picklable object
     Returns:
-        result (list): a list with as many elements as there are processes,
-            where each element i in the list corresponds to the data that was
-            gathered from the process of rank i.
+        list[data]: list of data gathered from each rank
     """
-    # strategy: the main process creates a temporary directory, and communicates
-    # the location of the temporary directory to all other processes.
-    # each process will then serialize the data to the folder defined by
-    # the main process, and then the main process reads all of the serialized
-    # files and returns them in a list
-    if not torch.distributed.is_available():
-        return [data]
-    if not torch.distributed.is_initialized():
+    world_size = get_world_size()
+    if world_size == 1:
         return [data]
-    synchronize()
-    # get rank of the current process
-    rank = torch.distributed.get_rank()
-
-    # the data to communicate should be small
-    data_to_communicate = torch.empty(256, dtype=torch.uint8, device="cuda")
-    if rank == 0:
-        # manually creates a temporary directory, that needs to be cleaned
-        # afterwards
-        tmp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
-        _encode(data_to_communicate, tmp_dir)
-
-    synchronize()
-    # the main process (rank=0) communicates the data to all processes
-    torch.distributed.broadcast(data_to_communicate, 0)
-
-    # get the data that was communicated
-    tmp_dir = _decode(data_to_communicate)
-
-    # each process serializes to a different file
-    file_template = "file{}.pth"
-    tmp_file = os.path.join(tmp_dir, file_template.format(rank))
-    torch.save(data, tmp_file)
-
-    # synchronize before loading the data
-    synchronize()
-
-    # only the master process returns the data
-    if rank == 0:
-        data_list = []
-        world_size = torch.distributed.get_world_size()
-        for r in range(world_size):
-            file_path = os.path.join(tmp_dir, file_template.format(r))
-            d = torch.load(file_path)
-            data_list.append(d)
-            # cleanup
-            os.remove(file_path)
-        # cleanup
-        os.rmdir(tmp_dir)
-        return data_list
+
+    # serialized to a Tensor
+    buffer = pickle.dumps(data)
+    storage = torch.ByteStorage.from_buffer(buffer)
+    tensor = torch.ByteTensor(storage).to("cuda")
+
+    # obtain Tensor size of each rank
+    local_size = torch.IntTensor([tensor.numel()]).to("cuda")
+    size_list = [torch.IntTensor([0]).to("cuda") for _ in range(world_size)]
+    dist.all_gather(size_list, local_size)
+    size_list = [int(size.item()) for size in size_list]
+    max_size = max(size_list)
+
+    # receiving Tensor from all ranks
+    # we pad the tensor because torch all_gather does not support
+    # gathering tensors of different shapes
+    tensor_list = []
+    for _ in size_list:
+        tensor_list.append(torch.ByteTensor(size=(max_size,)).to("cuda"))
+    if local_size != max_size:
+        padding = torch.ByteTensor(size=(max_size - local_size,)).to("cuda")
+        tensor = torch.cat((tensor, padding), dim=0)
+    dist.all_gather(tensor_list, tensor)
+
+    data_list = []
+    for size, tensor in zip(size_list, tensor_list):
+        buffer = tensor.cpu().numpy().tobytes()[:size]
+        data_list.append(pickle.loads(buffer))
+
+    return data_list
+
+
+def reduce_dict(input_dict, average=True):
+    """
+    Args:
+        input_dict (dict): all the values will be reduced
+        average (bool): whether to do average or sum
+    Reduce the values in the dictionary from all processes so that process with rank
+    0 has the averaged results. Returns a dict with the same fields as
+    input_dict, after reduction.
+    """
+    world_size = get_world_size()
+    if world_size < 2:
+        return input_dict
+    with torch.no_grad():
+        names = []
+        values = []
+        # sort the keys so that they are consistent across processes
+        for k in sorted(input_dict.keys()):
+            names.append(k)
+            values.append(input_dict[k])
+        values = torch.stack(values, dim=0)
+        dist.reduce(values, dst=0)
+        if dist.get_rank() == 0 and average:
+            # only main process gets accumulated, so only divide by
+            # world_size in this case
+            values /= world_size
+        reduced_dict = {k: v for k, v in zip(names, values)}
+    return reduced_dict