Today's Tidbit: VoltDB

Abstract

WELCOME TO CLOUD TIDBITS! In each issue, I'll be looking at a different “tidbit” of technology that I consider unique or eye-catching and of particular interest to IEEE Cloud Computing readers. Today's tidbit is VoltDB, a new cloud database. This system caught my eye for several reasons. First, it's the latest database designed by Michael Stonebraker, the database pioneer best known for Ingres, PostgreSQL, Illustra, Streambase, and more recently, Vertica. But interestingly, in this goaround, Stonebraker declared that he has thrown “all previous database architecture out the window” and “started over with a complete rewrite.”1 What's resulted is something totally different from every other database-including all the columnand table-oriented NoSQL systems. Moreover, VoltDB claims a 50 to 100x speed improvement over other relational database management systems (RDBMSs) and NoSQL systems. It sounds too good to be true. What we have is nothing short of a whole class of SQL, as compared to the “NoSQL” compromises detailed above. This “total rearchitecture,” called NewSQL, supports 100 percent in memory operation, supports SQL and stored procedures, and has a loosely coupled scale-out capability perfectly matched to cloud computing platforms. Wait a minute! That doesn't sound possible. That's precisely why I thought it made for a perfect tidbit.