A persistent, elastic cloud storage system powered by serverless function memory
Scroll to explore
The Problem
Fast storage is expensive. Cheap storage is slow
Cloud object storage like AWS S3 is cost-effective and highly elastic but relatively slow. High-performance cloud storage like AWS ElastiCache delivers speed but is expensive and provides limited elasticity. Neither option alone gives you the best of both worlds.
The Storage Spectrum
A gap between performance and cost
Object Storage (S3)
Low cost · Highly elastic · Persistent
High latency makes it unsuitable for performance-sensitive workloads that need fast random access.
Managed Cache (ElastiCache)
Low latency · High throughput · In-memory
Expensive at scale, limited elasticity, and users pay for provisioned capacity even when idle.
The Missing Layer
Fast · Elastic · Cheap · Persistent
What if serverless function memory could bridge this gap — offering in-memory speed at near-object-storage cost?
Key Innovation
Serverless
Memory
InfiniStore introduces ServerlessMemory — a storage layer that stores data using the memory of serverless cloud functions. Inspired by programming-language garbage collection, it employs a sliding-window memory management strategy to effectively segregate hot and cold data.
How It Works
Two tiers, one seamless system
Function Memory as Storage
Uses the ephemeral memory of serverless functions as a fast, elastic storage tier — no provisioned capacity, no idle cost.
GC-Inspired Data Management
A sliding-window strategy, inspired by garbage-collection techniques, automatically migrates cold data to cheap persistent storage while keeping hot data in fast function memory.
Fast Parallel Recovery
Ensures durability despite function failures with a parallel recovery scheme that leverages FaaS autoscaling for rapid, concurrent data reconstruction.
Tiered Coupling
Seamlessly couples the ServerlessMemory layer with a persistent cloud object store (S3), providing both high performance and durability transparently.
Results
Performance at a fraction of the cost
Evaluated with microbenchmarks and real-world applications, InfiniStore delivers competitive performance while dramatically reducing tenant-side costs.
Cost savings vs ElastiCache
Cost savings vs InfiniCache
InfiniStore shows the strongest performance benefits for objects larger than 10 MB — delivering throughput competitive with AWS ElastiCache and Anna while also providing durability, elasticity, and a pay-per-access pricing model.
Implementation
Built on AWS, proven in production workloads
InfiniStore is implemented in Golang and Python, coupling AWS Lambda functions as the fast ServerlessMemory tier with AWS S3 for persistence. The system was evaluated against AWS ElastiCache (Redis) and Anna using both microbenchmarks and two real-world applications.