An improved data storage system and apparatus including an improved storage controller that provides storage compute functionality that enables the acceleration of datacenter software, and that enables easier deployment of application software portions onto storage devices, in a manner that supports runtime performance acceleration of network-latency-throttled applications. Mechanisms and methods are provided for server hosted applications to initiate deployment of, initiate execution of, and interoperate with a multitude of softwares on a multitude of storage devices, where these softwares execute proximate to storage contents on the storage devices.