Support for JPA industry standard helps enterprises implement big data applications
Versant has launched a code preview program for its new Versant Java Persistence API (JPA 2.0), a pure Java client for the Versant Database Server. With the new API, Versant is introducing support for the widely accepted JPA industry standard, enabling enterprises to implement big data applications more quickly and easily.
Describing the Versant JPA as pre-beta, Versant's Dirk Bartels, vice president, Strategic Product Management, noted that while it is not feature-complete, it already has much of its functionality and is at a point that the company feels application developers can begin using it. General availability is expected at the end of April 2012.
According to Versant, new NoSQL technologies offer alternatives to traditional database technology for dealing with the scale and complexity of big data, but developing true mission-critical applications on them, such as real-time analytics systems, typically requires learning proprietary APIs and custom coding when data models become complex. Designed to manage complex object structures and relationships using the well-established Java programming standard, Versant JPA aims to provide a foundation for real-time analytics with very large data sets by connecting to Versant's high performance database. Developers can use existing coding skills to process previously unmanageable big data sets without learning yet another proprietary persistence API.
According to Versant, the JPA is part of the company's new strategic initiative which builds on Versant's heritage for large, distributed database applications, enabling enterprises to become highly agile and data driven.
Versant has had requests for support JPA for some time, Bartels says. “Up until about three years ago it was not quite clear if the market would go after the JDO standard or after the JPA standard.” But with the integration of JPA in Eclipse and the wide support form the Java developer community, there has been a “massive move” to JPA. In addition to the new Versant JPA, Versant will continue to support Java Data Objects (JDO) as well in order to serve both communities, Bartels says.
The code preview of Versant JPA is available immediately for download in the Versant Developer Community at http://community.versant.com.