{"id":648159,"date":"2013-03-21T18:24:11","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T22:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=623116"},"modified":"2013-03-21T18:24:11","modified_gmt":"2013-03-21T22:24:11","slug":"no-not-every-database-was-created-equal-heres-how-theyre-stand-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/648159","title":{"rendered":"No, not every database was created equal. Here\u2019s how they\u2019re stand out"},"content":{"rendered":"

SQL or NoSQL? In-memory or hard disks? Graph? These questions have been top of mind in recent years as developers and IT administrators check out new-age databases capable of handling scale-out data sets. Executives from four databases showed how they stand out in a hot market at GigaOM\u2019s Structure:Data<\/a> conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Emil Eifrem, CEO of Neo Technology, touted the power of Neo4j<\/a> and other graph databases to show relationships among disparate varieties of data with nodes, edges and key-value properties. (Think of Facebook\u2019s Graph Search<\/a> as one version.) The style takes inspiration from the connections among neurons and synapses inside the brain, Eifrem said. But, like other NoSQL databases, Neo Technology\u2019s Neo4j product doesn\u2019t use the SQL programming language, which could limit its adoption among enterprises. <\/p>\n

Damian Black, CEO of SQLstream<\/a>, touted his database\u2019s use of SQL, calling it \u201clingua franca for data management.\u201d Sure, it isn\u2019t the easiest language to use. Still, \u201cyou know it\u2019s going to save, it\u2019s going to work,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s auto-optimizing. It\u2019s proven.\u201d Plus, it might be easier to find developers who can use it. As specialized databases get more attention, that\u2019s become a more important point, said the moderator of the talk, GigaOM Research Analyst David Linthicum. <\/p>\n

Different databases have different sweet spots. For Ryan Garrett, vice president of product of MemSQL<\/a>, it\u2019s comparing real-time data \u2014 from the trading floor, say \u2014 with recent historical data from perhaps a day or a week ago. Andrew Cronk, CEO of TempoDB<\/a>, said his database excels at crunching time-series data in long columns coming off of many new connected devices. <\/p>\n

Black believes storing data in memory provides a clear advantage. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously going to be faster if you\u2019re pulling it from memory,\u201d he said. Eifrem took issue with that notion, saying that Neo4j runs on wherever sufficient memory is available. \u201cGenerally speaking, we want to be as horizontal as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Legacy database vendors such as Oracle still command large swaths of the database market. But specialized databases such as the four on display here could keep chipping away as data sets get larger and larger. Because there are so many flavors, a few databases could become leaders, rather than just one, as they really do have different strengths and weaknesses and use-case sweet spots. At least they do for now.<\/p>\n

Check out the rest of our Structure:Data 2013 live coverage here, and a video embed of the session follows below.<\/p>\n