One embodiment is a storage system having one or more compute blades to generate and use data and one or more memory blades to generate a computational result. The computational result is generated by a computational function that transforms the data generated and used by the one or more compute blades. One or more storage devices are in communication with and remotely located from the one or more compute blades. The one or more storage devices store and serve the data for the one or more compute blades.