What Is Computational Storage?

Updated July 2023

Computational Storage is defined as architectures that provide Computational Storage Functions (CSF) coupled to storage, offloading host processing or reducing data movement. These architectures enable improvements in application performance and/or infrastructure efficiency through the integration of compute resources (outside of the traditional compute & memory architecture) either directly with storage or between the host and the storage. The goal of these architectures is to enable parallel computation and/or to alleviate constraints on existing compute, memory, storage, and I/O.  Learn more here about the SNIA Computational Storage Architecture and Programming Model v1.0 and computational storage terms found in the SNIA Dictionary.  And check out our SNIA podcast on Computational Storage Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

The SNIA Computational Storage Technology Focus Area includes information on Computational Storage Technical Work Group activities and educational activities of the SNIA Computational Storage Special Interest Group.  SNIA’s Educational Library includes the SNIA Dictionary, webcasts, videos, and presentations on Computational Storage. 

Learn more about Computational Storage in our Educational Library