The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) announced the release of Apache Cassandra 1.1, the highly scalable open-source distributed database.
Cassandra 1.1 handles massive data sets across community machines, large server clusters and data centers without compromising performance, and it does so running in the cloud or partially on-premise in a hybrid data store. Apache Cassandra 1.1 delivers improved caching, revised query language (CQLCassandra Query Languagea subset of SQL), storage control, schema/structure, Hadoop integration/output, data directory control and scalability.
“Apache Cassandra is the leading scalable NoSQL database in terms of production installationsthe 1.0 release was a huge milestone,” said Jonathan Ellis, vice president of Apache Cassandra, in a statement. “Version 1.1 improves on that foundation with many features and enhancements that developers and administrators have been asking for.”
ASF officials said Cassandra is gaining attention as a best-of-breed “NoSQL” solution for its ease of use, powerful data model, enterprise-grade reliability, tunable performance and incremental scalability with no single point of failure. Cassandra accommodates high query volumes at high speed (sub-millisecond writes) with low latency, and handles petabytes of data across formats and applications in real time.
As it can handle thousands of requests per second, Apache Cassandra is deployed at a wide variety of enterprises, including Adobe, Appscale, Appssavvy, Backupify, Cisco, Clearspring, Cloudtalk, Constant Contact, Digg, Digital River, Expedia, Formspring, IBM, Mahalo.com, Morningstar, Netflix, Openwave, OpenX, Palantir, PBS, Plaxo, Rackspace, Reddit, RockYou, Shazam, SimpleGeo, Spotify, Twitter, Urban Airship, U.S. government agencies, Walmart Labs, Yakaz and more.
The ASF said the largest Cassandra production cluster to date exceeds 300 terabytes of data over 400 machines.
“The v1.1 release shows how rapidly Apache Cassandra has matured, Patrick McFadin, chief architect of Hobsons, which offers CRM solutions to the education market, said in a statement. The focus has clearly shifted to usability which is the sign of a solid system. I look forward to getting it into production right away. With features like Row-level isolation and Composite keys, Apache Cassandra v1.1 is really addressing user-driven needs with innovative solutions. Well done to all contributors for making this a great release.”
Jeffrey Abbruzzi, director of eCommerce engineering and operations at Williams-Sonoma, said: “In Apache Cassandra, the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. eCommerce team has found a platform that addresses fundamental challenges we faced in modernizing the foundation of our gift registry systems: the need for top-flight performance, fast and reliable replication among geographically distributed nodes, and lack of any single point of failure. We’re excited about the release and how it can help us continue to evolve the world-class Websites of our Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, PBTeen, Pottery Barn Kids and West Elm brands.”
“We applaud the continued hard work of all of the contributors to the Apache Cassandra project, who continue to make Cassandra the most scalable, easy-to-use, high-performance NoSQL solution available,” Robin Schumacher, vice president of products for DataStax, said in a statement. “We look forward to including Cassandra v1.1, with all the improvements it brings, into the next version of our DataStax Community Edition, as well as upcoming versions of our DataStax Enterprise Edition.”
Cassandra entered the Apache Incubator in 2009, and graduated as an Apache Top-Level Project in February 2010. Apache Cassandra version 1.0 was released in October 2011.