Dell is partnering with startup NeuroBlade to put SQL query-accelerating PCIe cards in select PowerEdge servers to speed up high throughput data analytics.
Update. Note added about NeuroBlade branding and CMO Priya Doty’s exit. 20 Sep 2023.
NeuroBlade has won Dell as a go-to-market partner for its hardware acceleration units that speed SQL queries. These G200 SPUs – SQL Processing Units – contain two NeuroBlade processors and work with query engines such as Presto, Trino, Spark and Dremio. No changes are needed to a host system’s data, queries or code as the SPU operates transparently as far as the application code is concerned.
Elad Sity, CEO and co-founder of NeuroBlade, said: “The work we have done enables organizations to keep up with their exponential data growth, while taking their analytics performance to new levels, and creating a priceless competitive advantage for them. This success couldn’t have been achieved without our engineering team, who have been collaborating with companies like Dell Technologies to unlock this new standard for data analytics.”
A couple of years ago NeuroBlade had developed its Xiphos rack enclosure, a Hardware Enhanced Query System (HEQS), and a compute-in-storage appliance containing four so-called Intense Memory Processing Units (IMPUs). These are formed from a multi-1,000-core XRAM processor, DRAM and an x86 controller. There are up to 32 x NVMe SSDs in the chassis and these can be Kioxia SCM-class FL6 drives for the fastest response.
The IMPU has been developed into what’s now called the SPU and NeuroBlade says it delivers consistently high throughput regardless of query complexity for applications involving business intelligence, data warehouses, data lakes, ETL, and others. As a dedicated SQL query processor, it can replace several servers previously doing the job and cut compute, software and power costs by a claimed 3 to 5x.
A HEQS image above shows eight SPUs fitted inside the chassis. This chassis can hold up to 100TB of data with its NVMe SSDs, and six chassis can be clustered to provide a 600TB resource. The Xiphos brand has lapsed with HEQS effectively replacing it.
Customers can buy SPU cards to put into servers, such as Dell’s PowerEdge, or complete HEQS chassis.
Although founded in Tel-Aviv, NeuroBlade has a US HQ in Palo Alto. It will be present at Dell Technologies World in Las Vegas, May 22-25, booth 1222, with displayed products and staff to talk about them.
NeuroBlade branding
NeuroBlade tells us: “The SQL Processing Unit of NeuroBlade is its own product, NeuroBlade SPU. The company has migrated away from the Xiphos and XRAM brand names. The SPU can be integrated into NeuroBlade’s HEQS (hardware enhanced query system), which is a rack-mounted server, or directly into the customer’s own data center.”
NeuroBlade CMO
We saw CMO Priya Doty has left Neuroblade, about 4 months after Mordi Blaunstein became VP Tech Business Development & Marketing. We asked NeuroBlade if the company could say why she left? The reply was: “NeuroBlade has focused its marketing strategy towards a more technical approach, emphasizing the product and its benefits. This, in turn, led to a restructuring of the marketing team. The company is now forming a new team in California led by Mordi Blaunstein, who has extensive experience in startups and enterprise organizations.”
