Ever since GPU’s began to encroach on the long-held arenas of CPU’s, there has been one realm where GPU’s could not go: Databases.  Inherently complex and problematic, they simply did not lend themselves to the type of atomic massively-parallel algorithms that GPUs excel at.  Many have tried, but most have wound up with hybrid solutions that generally caused more problems that answers.

empulse GmbH, a german company working on database technology, and chosen NVidia’s GTC as the launching pad for their newest product “ParStream” that shatters that stereotype once and for all.  They have the world’s first completely-GPU driven database system, capable of petabytes of storage across massive clusters, all searchable in a fraction of a second.  In a short discussion with Managing Director Micheal Hummel, he told me of a web analytics company that was currently using a process that took approximately 3 minutes to execute a query, that ParStream was able to replicate in a mere 15ms.  Yes, that’s milliseconds.  The results were so astounding that they first thought their original system must be broken, so they compared ParStream against every publicly available columnar database, and found ParStream was still 35x faster than the 2nd-place winner.

Thanks to its use of massively-parallel GPUs, ParStream is unsurpassed in its performance abilities. “Based on the current state of technology, the technological advancement of empulse in the area of GPU-based databases and the complexity of such an endeavour, it is unlikely that competitors will be able to develop a comparable product within the next two years,”

Unlike traditional transactional database systems like Oracle, this is an analytical database.  That means that insert and update operations happen infrequently, and as such it is optimized for queries and reporting.  That makes it perfect for web analytics, stockmarkets, and genome projects which have massive input datasets that change on a regular non-realtime basis (once a minute, etc).

Read the full press release after the break, and if you’re at GTC you can hear more from empulse at their booth (#39) or Wednesday at 4:00pm via their “CEO On Stage” presentation.

Full announcement after the break.

ParStream – the first parallel database running on GPUs!

The innovative HPC solution allowing new applications

San Jose, California (USA) / Cologne (Germany) September 21, 2010 – empulse GmbH will be presenting ParStream – the first database which uses an innovative, parallel database plus the enormous power of GPUs (Graphic Processing Units) – at the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference.

ParStream is extremely fast and efficient with the ability to effectively analyse billions of records in fractions of a second. “Our database solution can be scaled to several peta-bytes,” says Michael Hummel, Managing Director of empulse GmbH. ParStream also requires significantly less infrastructure and energy than conventional databases. What’s more, ParStream has the ability to analyse data at incredibly fast speeds with simultaneous data import and analysis functions. “The outstanding features of our ParStream database make it beneficial for any industry which uses structured mass data,” explains Michael Hummel. Included are internet service providers which can use ParStream for web analytics and SEO. Social networks can take advantage of ParStream’s technology for social media targeting and profiling. ParStream’s advanced technologies can be used in financial sector companies for analysis of stock prices and risk analysis. Energy companies may apply ParStream for smart metering and smart grids and research centers for climate data research or genetic analysis. These industries all rely on cost-effective,
efficient database solutions.

The highlight of ParStream is its revolutionary approach to data indexing, which was developed by the software specialists at empulse GmbH.  The new index will result in substantially higher efficiency and enables parallel processing of queries. Thanks to its use of massively-parallel GPUs, ParStream is unsurpassed in its performance abilities. “Based on the current state of technology, the technological advancement of empulse in the area of GPU-based databases and the complexity of such an endeavour, it is unlikely that competitors will be able to develop a comparable product within the next two years,”

About empulse GmbH

empulse GmbH specializes in the development and implementation of IT systems. One of empulse’s main focuses is high-performance computing solutions based on GPU architectures. empulse GmbH was founded in 2007 by Managing Directors, Michael Hummel and Jörg Bienert.

empulse at the 2010 GPU Technology Conference in San Jose

Session 4004: September 22, 2010 from 4:00 PM – 4:50 PM Emerging Companies Summit “CEO on Stage” Exhibiton: Booth #39