Best In-Memory Database

Aug 3, 2016

If information is the lifeblood of organizations today, then delivering information where it is needed faster can be considered a matter of business health, and in some cases, even business survival.

Offering the potential to bring insights to users and applications faster, in-memory technologies offer the ability to bring analytics to new levels. Real-time information to better address the needs of customers and markets has been a long-sought goal.

A recent survey of 303 data executives and professionals by Unisphere Research, in partnership with the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG), found that a majority of respondents, 57%, report strong demand for real-time information within their organizations. However, incomplete and slow-moving information means this is still not possible. Organizations are challenged by inadequate performance, siloed data, and slow response times, according to the research (Moving Data at the Speed of Business, December 2015.) In many cases, information has an optimal shelf life, and the older it is, the lower its value. The key to analytics is removing the barriers that hamper the delivery of data and enable it to move to where it is needed more quickly.

The Unisphere-IOUG survey also found that 28% of respondents have in-memory technologies in production, and 23% are currently in evaluation or pilot stages with in-memory. A majority of respondents, 52%, say they view in-memory technologies as being critical to their ability to compete.

While the traditional approach for processing data is for it to be stored on disks, to be called over in segments, to random access memory (RAM) on computers and servers when needed by applications. This can slow down processing considerably when large quantities of data are involved. Avoiding all that latency caused by travel, in-memory takes the data into RAM at once, greatly accelerating the processing.

While in-memory technology has been on the market for many years, recently the price of memory has dropped to the point where processing data in RAM compares favorably to moving it in and out of disks.

There are also growing business demands for real-time analysis and insights that make in-memory compelling. Enterprises increasingly seek real-time capabilities, as well as the ability to manage information coming in from the emerging Internet of Things. As a result, in-memory is being actively deployed across many enterprises today— from online ad placement to financial trading to production systems.