Space-Based Architecture

Scale and resilience via partitioned, replicated in-memory data grids and collocated processing; minimizes database contention.

What it is

A style that distributes state and processing across an in-memory grid. Requests are routed to partitions holding relevant data; replicas provide failover.

Benefits

  • Very low latency and high throughput
  • Resilience via replication and partition isolation
  • Reduces load on centralized databases

Trade-offs

  • Complexity in partitioning and data affinity
  • State synchronization and consistency challenges
  • Operational overhead for grid management

When to use

  • High-throughput, low-latency domains (trading, ecommerce)
  • Hot data sets amenable to partitioning
  • When DB contention or latency is a bottleneck