Pliops, a storage startup focusing on database acceleration, has just announced the launch of the Pliops Storage Processor (PSP), a revolutionary processor that could improve SSD performance dramatically. According to Pliops, the processor will boost SSD performance by 10 times, cut latencies, improving cost and performance by a whopping 90%. Initially, the processor will be sampled by selected cloud and enterprise companies, and commercial production is set to enter the commercial production stage at the end of the year.
This is exciting news for commercial clients, because the Pliops Storage Processor could increase the performance of NAND flash storage devices such as SSDs by more than 10 times and, in certain database applications, even decrease latency by up to 1,000 times.
To achieve this, the Pliops Storage Processor uses both software and hardware. On the one hand, the NVMe driver and Pliops Kernel Module act as substitutes for conventional storage engines and eliminate the bottlenecks accumulated over decades of latency architectures. On the other hand, the ASICs make data-intensive workloads easier to process by taking some of the load from the CPUs and using just a fraction of their power.
These capabilities are especially useful for datacenter designers, who have a hard time creating systems that can withstand the stress of data requirements. In the past years, data demands have increased considerably. According to the Kogod School of Business, the total worldwide data has exceeded 40 zettabytes in 2020, compared to just 10 zettabytes in 2016. However, infrastructure databases have not been able to scale, and neither have their applications. With their new storage processor, Pliops wanted to addresses these insufficiencies, and make data-intensive workloads easier to manage.
According to Pliops, the storage processor will be able to accelerate applications such as MySQL, Spark, Oracle, Apache, mongoDB, and more. The company also added that incorporating the processor is straightforward, does not require extensive changes to the user’s programs, and reduces the power consumption of servers and data centers. Overall, this should reduce the total operating costs.
In a whitepaper published on their website, Pliops explained that the new storage processor will address the top three inefficiencies in KV store operations:
- Read amplification
- Write amplification
- Space amplification
With the Pliops Storage Processor, applications will consume fewer resources and thus performance will be optimized to withstand high-demand workloads.
The Pliops Storage Processor will be available in a PCIe card and it won’t require any alterations to your existing software. So far, it was tested by more than ten third-party cloud companies, who confirmed its capabilities. Across all workloads, the PSP increased performance by 10 times, reduced latency by up to 1,000 times, and increased flash price/performance by more than 90%. Since it is estimated that data use will increase even more in the near future, solutions like the Pliops Storage Processor will certainly become a must-have for data centers.
