Purdue University: Novel Storage System Ready to Offer Relief for Frustrated Users, Companies

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 solution to help cut down
loading wait times and provide more efficient storage options
for corporations of all sizes.
(Credit: Stock Image)

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

“Most organizations rely on something called erasure coding to reduce storage costs,” said Vaneet Aggarwal, associate professor, industrial engineering, College of Engineering, Purdue University. “The rapid growth of streaming and e-commerce has stressed underlying 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.

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 cloud computing, ML, and networking (CLAN) research Labs, Purdue Unversity. “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 (vaneet@purdue.edu) at OTC at and mention track code 2016-AGGA-67579.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization
The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the US 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 IP. The office recently moved into the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Discovery Park District, adjacent to the Purdue campus. In FY20, the office reported 148 deals finalized with 225 technologies signed, 408 disclosures received and 180 issued US 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 start-up 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.

About Purdue University
It is a public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked the ≠5 Most Innovative University in the United States by US News & World Report, it delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, it offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, It has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students to graduate debt-free.