Challenging the CAP Theorem: A Partial Progress Conjecture Under Asynchrony
2025-01-08
A new paper challenges the well-known CAP theorem. The authors conjecture that partial progress is possible under network partitions, meaning the system can remain responsive to a subset of clients and achieve non-zero throughput during failures. They present the design of their CASSANDRA consensus protocol, allowing partitioned replicas to order client requests, potentially offering a path to systems that are both consistent and available to some degree, even during partitions. This research offers a novel approach to building more robust distributed systems.