ZettaScale: The future of connected systems

ZettaScale’s mission statement is to ‘bring to every connected human and machine the unconstrained freedom to communicate, compute and store – anywhere, at any scale, efficiently and securely’.

Building systems today resembles assembling a Frankenstein’s monster, stitching together multiple technologies for data flow, storage, and computation. Traditional protocols such as IP, which designed for ‘host-centric’ communication, fall short in what is rapidly becoming a ‘data-centric’ world of connected devices. This mismatch fuels the emergence of higher-level protocols like MQTT and DDS, but they still present limitations.

Enter ZettaScale’s solution, Zenoh, which is a Pub/Sub/Query protocol that unifies data in motion, data at rest, and computations across varied systems. It offers location-transparent abstractions for high-performance communication and distributed queries, regardless of device or network. Written in Rust for security, performance, and safety, Zenoh has native libraries and API bindings for various programming languages and network technologies. Its adaptability across diverse platforms, from embedded devices to data centres, makes it a versatile solution.

One of Zenoh’s key attributes is efficiency. With a significantly lower wire overhead compared to traditional protocols like DDS, it translates to substantial cost savings, especially for applications sending data continuously, such as robots and IoT devices. Consider applications that send data 24 x 7 x 365 such as robots, cars, IoT devices etc, then you it’s apparent that over time the differences really diverge. As an example, let’s assume a data sample is sent every minute over a year, DDS will have a wire overhead of 1.8 Gbps, while Zenoh has 157 Mb. Now assume that this data is produced by an offshore sensor, usually in these cases they pay $8 per MB of data. In the given example, the cost difference over a year for sending data every minute is $14,400 for DDS versus $1,256 for Zenoh.

While Zenoh empowers developers to build cloud-to-microcontroller systems, managing the infrastructure can be cumbersome, which is where Zetta enters the scene, offering a unified platform that integrates Zenoh with communication, storage, and computation capabilities. It blends with existing protocols and databases, providing a familiar yet efficient environment. Zetta’s time, space, and energy efficiency, along with its cloud-agnostic nature, makes it a powerful tool for building scalable and sustainable connected systems.

ZettaScale’s technology is already making waves in various industries. Imagine multiple robot forklifts autonomously navigating warehouses in synchronised harmony – which is already a reality facilitated by the efficient and secure communication enabled by Zetta.

These solutions hold immense potential for revolutionising sectors like robotics, automotive, and smart cities, where seamless connectivity and efficient data management are crucial. As technology continues to evolve, ZettaScale’s agility and innovative approach position them as a key player in shaping the future of a connected world.