Parallel Data Servers and Applications

摘要

As storage and communication technologies evolve, there is an increasing demand for storing more and more data either on-line or near-line. Data intensive applications can come from science, business and multimedia applications. Typical examples are analysis of satellite sensor data, data warehousing and data mining, image bases for medical applications and on-demand video systems. Proper design choices are the key to achieving efficient and cost-effective service in large information systems. Design tradeoffs are a function of available storage technology and the applications that will be using the storage system. Thus, before introducing the papers in this issue, we would like to briefly discuss trends in I/O storage technology as well as character- istics of I/O intensive applications.