Five MultiValue Data Management Predictions for 2016

MultiValue technology, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2015, remains an important part of the data management landscape.

Here, MultiValue vendors offer their thoughts on the outlook for MultiValue in the future and share predictions for 2016:

1. Growing need for multiplatform functionality: “The latest iterations of hardware and operating systems are blurring the previously firm distinctions between what constitutes a PC, tablet, and phone,” said David Cooper, owner of BlueFinity International Ltd. “A major challenge for developers in 2016 will be how to write software that's able to dynamically adapt itself in both UI and functionality in order to support all of these computing platforms.”
2. Importance of interoperability for MultiValue solutions. “Those of us who have been working for years in the MultiValue market have always recognized the power, simplicity, and speed of MV databases,” said Doug Leupen, president and CEO with Entrinsik. However, with the popularity of SQL and the challenges many MV users face connecting silos of SQL data to an enterprise-wide MV system, the market has not grown much, if at all.  The good news is that there has been some consolidation in the market, providing a bigger base of support. The even better news is that there are solutions such as Entrinsik Informer, which were originally built for MV systems, that enable direct, live access to data from multiple sources, blending data from both MultiValue and SQL into one consolidated view. As a result, the MV market may see some strengthening in 2016.”
3. The future of MultiValue lies in software as a service. “I believe software as a service is the future for MultiValue,” Mark Pick, president and CEO of Pick Cloud, Inc.  “It enables VARs to price their software competitively and also brings all the benefits of a cloud solution.  You pay only for what you use, reduce heating and cooling costs, increased OPex and more. MultiValue needs to adapt to future technology to survive another 50 years.”.
4. RESTful web services will become standard.  “MultiValue applications will continue to thrive in 2016,” opined Keith Lambert,  vice president of marketing and business development, Kore Technologies. “As more applications move to the cloud, real-time integration to them via RESTful Web Services will become standard. This will keep the core functionality of MV applications relevant while expanding it where needed.”
5. MultiValue will grow with Python.  “In 2016, Rocket will continue to lead MultiValue business applications into the future with Python integration; Audit Logging to help organizations meet compliance requirements; Self-Service BI for business users to quickly create rich visualizations; a secure platform to deploy, manage, and monitor mobile apps with MV data; and system monitoring/repair,” stated P. Gary Gregory, senior vice president and general manager, DBMS & application servers, Rocket Software.