Xilinx and Samsung have teamed up to create a new generation of versatile computational memory, which is significantly improved AI/ML performance to remove the problems of interconnect delay and energy consumption.
SmartSSD CSD integrates the Xilinx FPGA accelerator, reduces the limit of the server CPU to reduce data movement, which can save power consumption and delay for the result in accelerating the speed and efficiency of the data process. Besides, SmartSSD CSD is a flexible programmable storage platform allows developers to create a kind of unique and extensible accelerator for dealing with the problems from data center; helps a new generation of software developer to easily build innovative hardware components acceleration solution with a familiar high-level programming language. For the applications of database management, video processing, artificial intelligence layer, complex search, and virtualization, etc., SmartSSD CSD can improve its data processing performance by at least 10 times.
SmartSSD CSD can easily create customized applications by using the Vitis unified software platform and acceleration function library. Developers and enterprise equipment suppliers can quickly enter the market through pre-built customized applications. The runtime, function library, API and driver of the Vitis platform can all be built into the system using common high-level programming languages (such as C, C++ and OpenCL).
Another important thing is the scalability. A server can contain multiple SmartSSD drives, and each can run query acceleration in parallel. SmartSSD-based servers eliminate PCI-Express bottlenecks, and can produce nearly linear performance expansion even on oversubscribed host CPUs.
In addition, it’s significant to view some specs offered as well.
As a memory system, SmartSSD CSD provides 3.8 TB of memory and utilizes PCIe Gen 3x4 host interface. Since the speed of PCIe 4.0 is the serial of PCIe 3.0, it is not a removable storage device on the market. However, the allure is not in speed, but in its function.
The device also provides dynamic power management and throttling functions, and integrates Samsung's V-NAND flash memory.
After the advent of SmartSSD CSD, enterprises can meet the needs of users for more cached data without being forced to purchase more servers, resulting in Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operating Expense (OPEX); in addition, host CPU resources It has also been released to handle other higher-level tasks more efficiently. As described by Samsung and Xilinx, the device is centered on its versatility and scalability, and may even be a "one size fits all" storage solution for data centers.