Microsoft has introduced Garnet, a next-generation, fast, open-source remote cache that can help speed up apps and services.

The company says it has already tried Garnet in several use cases, including Windows & Web Experiences Platform, Azure Resource Manager, and Azure Resource Graph.

In addition, the company has also made the open source code for the new cache available for free on GitHub, where it is available for download.

“In open sourcing Garnet, we hope to enable the developer community to benefit from its performance gains and capabilities, to build on our work, and to expand the Garnet ecosystem by adding new API calls and features. We also hope that the open sourcing will encourage follow-up academic research and open future collaboration opportunities in this important research area,” the blog post says.

Microsoft says it started developing Garnet in 2021. One of the drivers for the development was that existing cache storages have a simple system design, which limits the ability to easily add new features and distribute across platforms and operating systems.

“Starting in 2021, based on requirements from use-cases at Microsoft, we began building a new remote cache-store with all the necessary features to serve as a viable replacement to existing cache-stores. Our challenge was to maintain and enhance the performance benefits that we achieved in our earlier work, but in this more general and realistic network setting,” wrote in a blog post.

You can learn more about Garnet’s technical features, design, and available functions, as well as see the results of tests comparing it to other cache storages on the company’s official blog.