Computational and edge storage are changing the way we manage data at the network edge. Understanding the terminology around this technology can help clarify how it works.

Enterprises are said to be awash in data, and one of the problems posed by all this data is not just storing it, but processing it. Storage architectures have by and large been keeping up with the capacity problem, while the introduction of flash has also given storage a much-needed speed-up over the past decade, significantly boosting the performance of transactional workloads such as databases as well as file, block, and object storage.

Winners of the 2019 Products of the Year signal a shift from disk to flash storage arrays. Vast Data takes gold, NGD Systems wins silver and DataDirect Networks captures bronze.

Compute-in-storage pioneer NGD has raised $20m in a C-series round to develop production of its technology and invest in sales and marketing.

The latest round includes new investments from MIG Capital and Western Digital Capital Global, Ltd, that enables artificial intelligence, machine learning and edge computing within computational storage.

IDC predicts that worldwide data will grow 61% to 175 zettabytes by 2025, which will invariably put a strain on infrastructure as organizations look to sort, search, scan, and otherwise derive value from this data. That’s where NGD Systems comes in — it’s an Irvine, California-based company offering a computational storage drive tailor-made for on-device AI and machine workloads. To lay a runway for growth, NGD this week closed a $20 million series C financing round led by Western Digital Capital, with participation from existing investors including Orange Digital Ventures, Partech Ventures, BGV, and Plug-N-Play.

Experts predict edge computing, 5G and containers will fuel computational storage, new storage systems dedicated to container-based applications, and flash-based object stores.

The World Economic Forum predicts that the amount of data we produce will reach 44 zettabytes by 2020. Learn more about it here.

Toshiba introduced during the 2019 Flash Memory Summit the XFMEXPRESS, targeted at mobile apps, automobiles, and gaming consoles.