Upstart Starcounter, a small Swedish company that competes with the Oracles and SAPs of the world with its speedy, big data in-memory database, released the beta of its 2.0 version on Aug. 21.
The Stockholm-based company made the announcement at the NoSQL Now! show in San Jose, Calif.
The next-generation NoSQL database features a Web platform that provides simpler integration—using standard tools—with Web applications and mobile clients that include laptops, tablets and smartphones, CEO Asa Holmstrom (pictured) told eWEEK.
“The basic difference in our new version is that Starcounter is now a communications server,” Holmstrom said. “It also has a gateway piece. It can work with all the different clients—a mobile client or a Web app client. The communications server will be able to distinguish which [hot data] traffic should go into the database as opposed to static data that doesn’t have to go that way.
“In that way, we can handle traffic that really needs to be handled fast, to keep up with the performance that the database server can provide. Everything will be tunneled through the gateway and the communications server,” Holmstrom said.
Starcounter 2.0’s biggest value-add for developers is that it reduces the lines of code needed to enable faster development and implementation of new applications. This is because so much functionality is already baked into the server, Holmstrom said.
Starcounter 2.0 is compliant with Web standards such as REST/JSON (representational state transfer/JavaScript Object Notation) and also provides built-in support for mirrored MVVM (Model View/ViewModel) technology, without the need for additional add-on components, Holmstrom said. Starcounter’s Web platform facilitates direct access to the existing database, so the transfer of data involved is automated.
Starcounter’s database can process data transactions 100 times faster than a traditional database due to its patented VMDBMS (virtual machine database management system), which includes features for ease of use and enhanced database performance for developers, Holmstrom said.
Pairing the high-performing Starcounter database with the new integrated communications server and fast gateway can handle upwards of 3 million Web requests in a single second, including the database transaction, she said.
“As the vast amount of data that is generated by Web pages, mobile users and remote multiple locations all occur simultaneously, businesses are beginning to understand that such data needs to be updated in real time from the various touch points,” said Robin Bloor, chief analyst and co-founder of The Bloor Group.
“Traditional databases can’t handle the volume or real-time needs for many transactions. Next-generation high-performance databases such as Starcounter have entered the market to address this need.”
Starcounter will demonstrate the 2.0 database at the NoSQL Now! show in San Jose, Calif., on Aug. 21 and 22.
Starcounter was founded in 2006 by entrepreneur Joachim Wester. Its IT is atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability, or ACID, compliant, and performs best with high transactional, real-time applications, Holmstrom said.