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Field Programmable Gate Array - FPGA

Dedicated hardware will always be faster than a general processor. This has been the principal theory in NexQL's development efforts. With current advancements in FPGA technology, NexQL has been able to incorporate dedicated hardware speeds by integrating its advance indexing technology with high performance FPGA logic. NexQL calls this approach “Quasar”, an index acceleration appliance solution.

FPGAs are re-programmable circuits, also known as reconfigurable computing.

Reconfigurable Computing is a methodology of using programmable logic devices in a system design such that the hardware-based logic can be changed to perform various tasks. Benefits include the use of fewer components, lower power requirements, and increased flexibility. This methodology also allows networked equipment in the field to be upgraded or repaired remotely.

NexQL brings the power of reconfigurable computing to the database world. Complex algorithms can be programmed onto the FPGA chip and then accelerated dramatically.

The Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is one of the center pieces of Quasar technology. This 128 bit Boolean processor includes a bank of dedicated memory that enables rapid processing of parallel operations while maximizing database performance. Performance is further enhanced by removing the burden of indexing from high-end commercial databases in order to attain:

• Extremely high ingest rates with real-time access to data thousands of times faster than non-indexed databases.
• Unlimited growth potential in database size and query requests.
• Managed system costs with management free indexes.
• Super linear scalability – Scales with the database and becomes faster as the system grows larger. As your data grows, more hardware can be added without any loss of performance. Even without an increase in data, new hardware can be added to improve performance at any time.

NexQL offers customized application tuning within the FPGA to support custom algorithmic acceleration, allowing for specific applications to be accelerated at hardware speeds and without the need to design custom chips or systems.

We currently utilize Altera® Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) Technology. For more information on Altera, please visit their web site at: www.altera.com.