If we were building a script-based application (say in Python or PHP), and required a data caching service, probably one of the first systems we would consider would be memcache. Both incredibly fast and remarkably simple, but it is this simplicity that does come with some drawbacks. Currently to provide resilience or replication, we have to either handle it on the client side or overlay another system on top of the default memcache to provide transparent scaling or data sharing. But either way, we are exposing some consistency risks, especially in the case of node failure or fallover.

However, one of its greatest strengths is the extent of its client libraries, with no fewer than 10 different technology stacks catered for. Drawing upon these benefits

Hazelcast has sought to provide a compatible alternative, in exposing a memcache API service from each of the Hazelcast cluster nodes. As each of the nodes exposes access to the whole cluster, we can talk to any node about any key held...