Altior SDK for Hardware-Accelerated Compression

Altior Inc., developer of network and storage embedded systems solutions, has announced the availability of its software development kit (SDK), which allows system developers in the network and storage markets to deploy industry-standard compression and decompression protocols using the company’s AltraFlex PCI Express-enabled, FPGA-based hardware acceleration card solution.

The SDK enables web masters to optimize bandwidth while boosting the performance of web server farms by 2x to 5x. Additionally, by eliminating the need to modify existing software, the SDK slashes integration effort and speeds time to deployment by up to six months. 
"The SDK is a natural next step in our AltraFlex roadmap," said Ramana Jampala, President and CEO of Altior. "First, we demonstrated the superior flexibility of an FPGA-based approach over a fixed-function ASIC approach. Now, with the SDK, we enable our customers to rapidly adopt and exploit our FPGA-based acceleration solution. Without the SDK, the customer would have to custom-craft an integrated solution, using a team of software experts, and working for months."

The SDK enables the implementation of the industry-standard zlib software compression protocols that are proliferated throughout network and storage applications. The SDK-enabled system detects the presence of an AltraFlex card via the drivers, and automatically offloads the protocol processing to it. In the event the SDK detects no AltraFlex card, the CPU continues to process the routines. The SDK can be deployed across a whole infrastructure or product line, with or without AltraFlex cards, giving design teams the flexibility to incorporate AltraFlex hardware acceleration in next-generation designs and as after-market upgrades.

"Our customers have indicated their interest to shift execution of multi-stream compressions from the CPU to an AltraFlex hardware acceleration card, which is not only inherently faster, but also supports context switching to increase throughput even further," said Rob Zecha, VP Operations of Altior. "However, they don’t want to modify their existing, debugged, functioning software – no re-architecture, no redesign, no recoding, and no recompilation. Using Altior’s SDK, customers can do precisely that. They can rapidly integrate an AltraFlex board into the system design without significant software changes."

The SDK is available at no charge.