McObject Shows You Can Have Your In-Memory Database Performance -- and Durability/Recoverability, Too

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Sep 19, 2012) - HPC on Wall Street -- McObject®, developer of innovative real-time database system software for capital markets, today announced lab results that show significant performance benefits for in-memory database systems (IMDSs) with transaction logging over disk-based database management systems. The tests refute the myth that adding recoverability to an IMDS eliminates its performance edge over traditional database management systems (DBMSs).

In-memory database systems -- which work with data in main memory -- are faster than conventional DBMSs, because the latter rely on slower persistent storage. But some potential users shy away from IMDSs due to the higher volatility of keeping records in RAM. Transaction logging, which keeps a record of changes to the database, addresses this concern by enabling recovery in the event of system failure. Naysayers argue that the persistent storage required to keep this transaction log defeats the purpose of using an IMDS, and counters any performance gains.

In one of the first tests of its kind, McObject measured the performance of an on-disk DBMS against an IMDS with transaction logging (IMDS+TL) using a variety of storage devices. For the database operations most likely to induce latency, the IMDS+TL storing its transaction log on a hard disk drive (HDD) outperformed the conventional DBMS using HDD storage several times over (even with the disk-based DBMS employing caching to minimize I/O). The gains were even more dramatic using state-of-the-art flash memory technology from Fusion-io. Swapping the hard drive in the in-memory database system with a Fusion ioDrive to store log data enabled the in-memory database to turn in a stunning 15.33x speed advantage over disk-based DBMS.

"In the financial services market, near real-time performance can lead to greater success, but that performance cannot sacrifice data security, so transaction logging solutions like eXtremeDB and Fusion ioMemory can ensure customers have a comprehensive solution in place," said Tyler Smith, Fusion-io Vice President of Alliances. "We are pleased to work with McObject to achieve such impressive results, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with innovative new companies to deliver ultra-low latency, flash memory performance for database applications."

"These tests have important implications for low-latency financial systems, chief among them that you don't need to sacrifice data durability in order to gain high performance," said Steve Graves, co-founder and CEO of McObject. "With transaction logging, financial systems gain recoverability yet still benefit from in-memory databases' tremendous speed. The performance advantage of an IMDS with transaction logging turns out to be impressive even using basic hard disk storage; by moving to Fusion-io's state-of-the-art memory tier storage, financial systems can obtain an advantage that is truly game-changing."

McObject will publish a report about the testing process, components and results. A preview is available now at http://financial.mcobject.com/imdstl. 

About McObject
Founded by embedded database and real-time systems experts, McObject provides the eXtremeDB database system product family to build low latency, high scalability and reliability into real-time financial systems while harnessing the growing volume of data in capital markets. McObject counts among its customers industry leaders such as NSE.IT, SunGard Kingstar, Transaction Network Services, Dalian Commodity Exchange, Financial Technologies of India Ltd. (FTIL), BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Siemens, Philips, EADS, Spirent Communications, F5 Networks, Motorola and Boeing. Based in Issaquah, WA, McObject is committed to providing innovative technology and first-rate services to customers and partners. For more information, please contact the company at +1-(425)-888-8505, or visit http://financial.mcobject.com.

McObject and eXtremeDB are registered trademarks of McObject LLC. All other company or product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.