diff --git a/workloads/zlib-accel/README.md b/workloads/zlib-accel/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18ee496 --- /dev/null +++ b/workloads/zlib-accel/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ +# zlib-accel: Compression Acceleration with Intel Technology + +Although zlib is widely used and provides excellent compression ratios, its +relatively high CPU usage can limit overall system performance. The zlib-accel +shim layer addresses this performance bottleneck by leveraging Intel's hardware +acceleration capabilities built into 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® processors and later. +Specifically, it relies on Intel® QuickAssist Technology (Intel® QAT) and +Intel® In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (Intel® IAA). The shim layer's unique +value proposition lies in its transparent approach, which serves as a drop-in +replacement requiring no code modifications. This distinguishes it from other +acceleration solutions that require application modifications for +implementation. + +By automatically routing compression workloads to dedicated hardware +accelerators, zlib-accel frees valuable CPU resources for other +applications while simultaneously boosting compression performance. +This transparent integration removes traditional barriers to hardware +acceleration adoption, making it accessible to both legacy applications and new +deployments with little complexity and development overhead. The solution +successfully bridges the gap between specialized hardware requirements and +practical application deployment, which unlocks greater infrastructure value for +increasingly demanding data center environments. + +Comprehensive performance evaluations with Apache Cassandra, PostgreSQL, and +RocksDB benchmarking utilities demonstrate substantial improvements in both +throughput and latency. The hardware accelerators consistently outperform not +only standard zlib implementations but also modern optimized compression +algorithms like zstd and LZ4. They also maintain competitive compression +ratios. For more information, refer to the resources linked below. + +- [White Paper](https://cdrdv2-public.intel.com/913308/zlib-acceleration-white-paper.pdf) +- [GitHub Repository](https://github.com/intel/zlib-accel)