Novel data storage system ready to offer relief for frustrated users, companies

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Most smartphone owners know the frustrations of trying to look through digital photos on a social media app to find the one they want. The pictures can be slow to load and sometimes not load at all.

Purdue University innovators have developed a solution to help cut down loading wait times and provide more efficient data storage options for corporations of all sizes. The researchers developed a novel data storage and computer technology system.

“Most organizations rely on something called erasure coding to reduce data storage costs,” said Vaneet Aggarwal, an associate professor of industrial engineering in Purdue’s College of Engineering. “The rapid growth of streaming and e-commerce has stressed underlying data storage systems. A key solution to relieving this traffic burden has been caching, which basically involves a computer memory storing popular chunks of data so they can be retrieved quickly.”

Chunks of popular data can be stored separately closer to end users, reducing congestion in the network and improving delay times. Among stored data, Aggarwal said, 20% of the content may be accessed 80% of the time, so establishing a priority on this data improves functionality significantly.

The Purdue team developed a novel caching framework with an algorithm that optimizes caching across a distributed storage system, which improves performance by splitting data across multiple physical servers.

“Our system provides a big advantage in that it reduces latency to provide a better experience for users and for the organization or company,” said Aggarwal, who leads the Cloud Computing, Machine Learning, and Networking (CLAN) Research Labs at Purdue. “Latency is the time taken to obtain the file following an instruction for its transfer. It might be better known to users as that annoying wait time for something to download.”

The team worked with the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization to patent this technology.

The researchers are looking for partners to continue developing their technology. For more information on licensing and other opportunities, contact Matt Halladay at OTC at mrhalladay@prf.org and mention track code 2016-AGGA-67579.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization

The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office recently moved into the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District, adjacent to the Purdue campus. In fiscal year 2020, the office reported 148 deals finalized with 225 technologies signed, 408 disclosures received and 180 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org for more information.      

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked the No. 5 Most Innovative University in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at purdue.edu.

Writer: Chris Adam, cladam@prf.org 

Source: Vaneet Aggarwal, vaneet@purdue.edu