Provuse: Platform-Side Function Fusion for Performance and Efficiency in FaaS Environments

TL;DR

Provuse is a platform-side optimization for FaaS that automatically fuses functions at runtime, reducing latency and resource usage without requiring code changes, applicable to container orchestration frameworks.

Contribution

It introduces a transparent, runtime function fusion technique for FaaS platforms that improves performance and efficiency without developer intervention.

Findings

Average latency reduced by 26.33%

RAM usage decreased by 53.57%

Compatible with Kubernetes and tinyFaaS

Abstract

Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) platforms provide scalable and cost-efficient execution but suffer from increased latency and resource overheads in complex applications comprising multiple functions, particularly due to double billing when functions call each other. This paper presents Provuse, a transparent, platform-side optimization that automatically performs function fusion at runtime for independently deployed functions, thereby eliminating redundant function instances. This approach reduces both cost and latency without requiring users to change any code. Provusetargets provider-managed FaaS platforms that retain control over function entry points and deployment artifacts, enabling transparent, runtime execution consolidation without developer intervention. We provide two implementations for this approach using the tinyFaaS platform as well as Kubernetes, demonstrating compatibility with container orchestration frameworks. An evaluation shows consistent improvements, achieving an average end-to-end latency reduction of 26.33% and a mean RAM usage reduction of 53.57%. These results indicate that automatic function fusion is an effective platform-side strategy for reducing latency and RAM consumption in composed FaaS applications, highlighting the potential of transparent infrastructure-level optimizations in serverless systems.