April 23, 2012
Fusion-io releases Software Development Kit that will allow Native Flash Memory Access
Fusion-io, a storage memory platform company based in Salt Lake City, UT, announced their release of the first software development kit (SDK) that will provide software developers with native access to the ioMemory flash platform. This SDK is designed to transfer applications to NAND flash memory. By merging applications directly with Fusion-io's NAND flash memory, software developers will be able to optimize web based data applications through direct programmatic access to the ioMemory computing layer for the very first time, as applications are currently only designed to operate on hard drives.
"Our January demonstration of one billion IOPS running on Auto Commit Memory, and Atomic Writes demonstrated the potential power of running applications natively on ioMemory. With our SDK, we are now making these tools available to software developers," says David Flynn, Fusion-io CEO. "The ioMemory SDK and APIs reduce application complexity and speed development while accelerating time to market with fewer engineering requirements. When you get rid of that complexity, the resulting application is much more reliable and can leverage the full potential of ioMemory to run much faster."
Up until now, app developers have been restricted to accommodating their applications for flash as storage. The io Memory SDK will unlock direct programmatic access to native flash access patterns and data organization procedures. This will include application programming interfaces (APIs) within user-space libraries, which will feature interfaces to reduce latency, improve memory efficiency, and reduce code complexity, as well as reference application examples made available as open source. The ioMemory SDK libraries will unify underlying primitives supplied by the Fusion-io ioMemory OS Subsystem, such as Fusion-io Atomic Writes and Auto Commit Memory, to advance application development cycles and system performance of popular applications.
"Direct programmatic access to the ioMemory tier presents a rare and significant leap forward for computing, and the ioMemory SDK makes that integration powerfully simple for application developers," says Citrusleaf founder and CTO Brian Bulkowski. "When you consider that Fusion-io is already well known for accelerating applications, it's exciting that bypassing traditional protocols in favor of direct access to ioMemory would mean an even greater performance boost in Citrusleaf's NoSQL database for mission critical webscale applications. Our existing real time big data customers require low latency and extraordinary throughput, and with this revolution in application acceleration, end users will start asking if applications can run native on ioMemory."
Citrusleaf revealed a real-time noSQL database utilizing the Fusion-io SDK designed for advertising companies that operate with billion-object databases. The demonstration displayed an application processing 200,000 transactions per second running on a single commodity server with Fusion-io cards. This included indexes operating on the Fusion-io flash memory. As a result, it uses five times less DRAM, two times less wear, and two times less storage, allowing the application to supply faster performance on fewer servers.
"Improving the performance of input/output (I/O) bound applications or systems could be more pronounced and cost-effective if the choice of data to hold in flash memory is done in an intelligent and application-aware way," says Gartner VP Carl Claunch. "Competitive advantages for software will be the main driver pushing those makers to exploit flash as a unique memory type."
Some Fusion-io libraries and APIs are now available to early access partners through the new Fusion-io Developer Program, the first industry program for developers optimizing applications to run natively on ioMemory. Designed as a developer community resource, the Developer Program portal will also feature white papers, blogs, FAQs, and other resources.
"Our January demonstration of one billion IOPS running on Auto Commit Memory, and Atomic Writes demonstrated the potential power of running applications natively on ioMemory. With our SDK, we are now making these tools available to software developers," says David Flynn, Fusion-io CEO. "The ioMemory SDK and APIs reduce application complexity and speed development while accelerating time to market with fewer engineering requirements. When you get rid of that complexity, the resulting application is much more reliable and can leverage the full potential of ioMemory to run much faster."
Up until now, app developers have been restricted to accommodating their applications for flash as storage. The io Memory SDK will unlock direct programmatic access to native flash access patterns and data organization procedures. This will include application programming interfaces (APIs) within user-space libraries, which will feature interfaces to reduce latency, improve memory efficiency, and reduce code complexity, as well as reference application examples made available as open source. The ioMemory SDK libraries will unify underlying primitives supplied by the Fusion-io ioMemory OS Subsystem, such as Fusion-io Atomic Writes and Auto Commit Memory, to advance application development cycles and system performance of popular applications.
"Direct programmatic access to the ioMemory tier presents a rare and significant leap forward for computing, and the ioMemory SDK makes that integration powerfully simple for application developers," says Citrusleaf founder and CTO Brian Bulkowski. "When you consider that Fusion-io is already well known for accelerating applications, it's exciting that bypassing traditional protocols in favor of direct access to ioMemory would mean an even greater performance boost in Citrusleaf's NoSQL database for mission critical webscale applications. Our existing real time big data customers require low latency and extraordinary throughput, and with this revolution in application acceleration, end users will start asking if applications can run native on ioMemory."
Citrusleaf revealed a real-time noSQL database utilizing the Fusion-io SDK designed for advertising companies that operate with billion-object databases. The demonstration displayed an application processing 200,000 transactions per second running on a single commodity server with Fusion-io cards. This included indexes operating on the Fusion-io flash memory. As a result, it uses five times less DRAM, two times less wear, and two times less storage, allowing the application to supply faster performance on fewer servers.
"Improving the performance of input/output (I/O) bound applications or systems could be more pronounced and cost-effective if the choice of data to hold in flash memory is done in an intelligent and application-aware way," says Gartner VP Carl Claunch. "Competitive advantages for software will be the main driver pushing those makers to exploit flash as a unique memory type."
Some Fusion-io libraries and APIs are now available to early access partners through the new Fusion-io Developer Program, the first industry program for developers optimizing applications to run natively on ioMemory. Designed as a developer community resource, the Developer Program portal will also feature white papers, blogs, FAQs, and other resources.
