FlashDB 2012 - The Second International Workshop on Flash-based Database Systems (FlashDB 2012)

The Second International Workshop on Flash-based Database Systems (FlashDB 2012)

Recently, new storage media such as flash memory and phase change memory have been developed very quickly, which bring big challenges to the architecture of computer systems as well as the design of system software. In particular, NAND flash (either SLC- or MLC-based) in the form of solid state disks (SSDs) has been an alternative to traditional magnetic disks, both in the home-user environment and in the enterprise computing environment, due to its shock-resistance, low power consumption, non-volatility, and high I/O speed. The special features of flash memory and other new storage media impose new challenges to traditional data management technologies. As a result, traditional database architectures and algorithms designed for magnetic-disk-based storage fail to utilize new storage media efficiently. Meanwhile, the new characteristics of modern storage media, such as not-in-place update and asymmetric read/write/erase latencies of flash memory, also bring great challenges in optimizing database performance, by using new query processing algorithms, indexes, buffer management schemes, and new transaction processing protocols. Consequently, how to exploit the characteristics of flash memory and other new storage media has become an important topic of database systems research. In order to make use of the characteristics of flash memory and other new storage media, the data management community needs to rethink the algorithms and technical issues in magnetic-disk-oriented database systems and gets them adapted to the advances in the underlying storage infrastructure.

The aim of this one-day workshop is to bring together researchers who are interested in optimizing database performance on flash memory or other new storage media by designing new data management techniques and tools. We welcome papers that address fundamental research issues in this challenging area, with emphasizes on new algorithms of flash-based data management. We also encourage papers to report on system level research related to data management on flash-based solid state disks or other new storage devices. The topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

Design of new storage devices, e.g., flash-based solid state disks
Database architectures for new storage devices
Green-computing and energy-efficient techniques for new storage devices
Cost models and query optimization for new storage devices
Index structures optimized for new storage devices
Buffer management policies for new storage devices
Multi-level storage systems
Performance analysis of database workloads on new storage devices
Transaction processing in database systems on new storage devices
Data management issues for hybrid storage architecture
New workloads and benchmark tools for algorithms on new storage devices