Oracle Launches NoSQL Database

From PC World: After announcing the technology at its OpenWorld conference last month, Oracle has launched its much anticipated NoSQL database.

The Oracle NoSQL Database can now be downloaded from the Oracle Technology Network. The software will also be a key component the Oracle Big Data Appliance, due to be shipped in the first three months of 2012.

The database, based on the Berkeley DB database, would be of interest to "customers who are acquiring massive amounts of data who are unsure about the schema, who want more fluid capture of the data," said Marie-Anne Neimat, vice president of database development at Oracle.

The company is responding to the growing number of databases introduced in the past few years that eschew the typical SQL architecture in order to scale up and speed performance.

Such a database may be useful for storing information such as data from service logs, sensors and meters as well as from social networks and personal information for e-commerce sites, the company claimed. A database of this sort would also be a good fit for large organizations that are already using Oracle databases, noted analyst Curt Monash of Monash Research. In many cases a relational database is not the best choice for tasks such as tracking Web interactions. "NoSQL in general deserves a place in Oracle shops, so it makes sense for Oracle to try to co-opt it," he wrote in a blog posting.

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