World's Largest User Community of Object Database Technology Receives a Faster, Leaner db4o Persistence Solution Native to Java and .NET
db4objects (www.db4o.com), creator of the leading open source object database, today announced the release of db4o Version 6.0, which is up to 10x faster and 90% leaner (less memory consumption) than Version 5. Version 6 also supports a new server side cursor technology for deterministic response times when querying in C/S multi-user environments, which allows even more Java and .NET developers to now take advantage of db4o’s ultra-easy object storage capabilities.
db4o is fostered by the world’s largest community of object database users -- more than 15,000 registered developers and growing -- and is quickly approaching one million downloads. Based on this unprecedented support and their innumerable contributions, db4o has established a mainstream alternative for object persistence, versus traditional relational databases like Oracle or MySQL.
Development managers at leading companies like Boeing, Bosch, Intel, Siemens, Seagate and Ricoh are already using db4o to slash development costs and time and stay ahead of their competition -- in part because db4o's technology eliminates the tedious work required to solve the classic “impedance mismatch" problem. This occurs whenever Java or .NET application objects must be painstakingly converted for compatibility with a relational database management system (RDBMS).
Object-relational mappers such as RedHat's Hibernate and Oracle's Toplink provide decent “band aid” fixes to automate this additional work. But only db4o's native object persistence solution stores objects exactly as they are represented in the native application, eliminating the object-relational mismatch entirely. As a result, db4o helps cut development costs by up to 50%, and the resulting software assets are easier to maintain and reuse. Also, db4o runs up to 55x faster than Hibernate, as shown by two independent benchmarks (OO7 on www.odbms.org and Pole Position on www.polepos.org), making this advanced database technology feasible for use in a whole new class of applications.
Version 6, available as of today in beta version for immediate and free download from http://files.db4o.com/db4o_60/, features significant performance improvements, both for in-process, embedded mode as well as for client/server operation. db4o now not only appeals even more to its customary audience developing embedded applications with very limited resources -- such as smartphones, photocopiers, car electronics, and packaged software products -- but also powers real-time control systems and websites better than ever.
In comparison to Version 5, in-process transactions with db4o now run up to 10x faster (e.g., on Commits of added objects), while memory consumption is now constant at 3MB in all but one Pole Position benchmark test cases, reduced from up to 27MB in Version 5.
Version 6 also comes with updates of two powerful components: the db4o Replication System (dRS) v6.0, to ensure compatibility to backend relational databases like Oracle and MySQL, and the new ObjectManager v6.0, which helps developers browse and debug db4o databases in an object-oriented manner.
What Customers Are Doing
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Japan’s leading maker of digital office solutions with annual sales over $17BN, recently forged a partnership with db4objects to develop the company’s future product development platform using db4o. "db4o provides a persistence solution for our broad range of technical challenges and for our stringent quality standards. After a long period of evaluation, we found that db4o has the flexibility to fit our cutting-edge architectures, which aim to achieve better productivity in our object-oriented software development," said Tatsuo Ito, software team leader at Ricoh in Tokyo, Japan.
Intel Corp., the world's largest silicon company, partners with db4objects to integrate its IT solutions. "db4o will make application development much easier for our group. The OR mapper/SQL database alternative really did not allow us to do everything we needed and forced us to contort our application designs. By comparison, implementing with db4o was seamless and worked within our existing architecture," said Sean DeMartino, Intel software engineer and XP coach.
Collaborative Approach Makes the Difference
Object database technology dates back to the late 1980s, but only db4o has managed to gather an expansive and passionate open source developer community, driving development to deliver the product exactly the way users need it. The open source model also ensures sustainable low or no-cost offerings to db4o's customers.
Unlike closed source vendors, db4o plans its product roadmap collaboratively in public and maintains an agile approach based on broad and immediate user feedback. All the project management tools, core product design discussions, and even db4objects' skypecasted planning meetings are open to community members, who can check any development progress in publicly available, twice-hourly continuous builds. This scrutiny produces high-quality software with specific relevance to user needs, which is unmatched in the closed source software world.
Users contribute code, ideas, bug fixes, and documentation to the software production, significantly increasing the productivity per dollar invested in the db4o platform. Since the open source process is entirely Internet-based, db4objects is as global as only a handful of closed-source companies, spread out over virtually every country of the world and equally balanced over the major hotspots including the US, Japan, China, India, Europe, and Brazil. All this helps to keep costs in check to sustainably offer db4o at much lower prices than closed source competitors.
"It's of crucial importance for commercial open source vendors to focus on the issues important to their community,” explains Stephen O'Grady, senior analyst at RedMonk. “The db4objects community's priority, as it should be, has been on performance, and db4objects the company has accordingly invested heavily in speed with some compelling results."
db4objects licenses db4o technology under a dual distribution plan: Its GPL open software version is ideal for evaluation, non-profit, academic and certain cases of in-house use. And db4objects offers affordable commercial license terms and support packages for companies wishing to embed db4o into their commercial products for redistribution, requiring direct support with guaranteed response times and indemnification. With its global production system, db4objects today supports commercial customers in more than 30 countries at competitive prices.
“db4o brings the power of open source to the next level,” says Christof Wittig, CEO of db4objects. “Unlike Linux and MySQL, which have commoditized conventional software categories with low-cost products, the db4o community brings an innovative solution to market, where closed source attempts have failed consistently. Version 6 eliminates a number of performance constraints of earlier versions, and expands the reach of this innovation to an even larger audience of cutting-edge Java and .NET software developers.”
About db4objects, Inc
db4objects, Inc (www.db4o.com) provides db4o, the world's most popular object database, native to Java and .NET and available under open source and commercial licenses. With 15,000 registered community members and nearing one million downloads, db4o is used in a broad array of industries around the globe. Customers include the world's most innovative companies, including Boeing, Bosch, Intel, Ricoh, and Seagate. db4objects is based in San Mateo, California, and backed by noted Silicon Valley luminaries including Mark Leslie, founding CEO of Veritas; Jerry Fiddler, founding CEO of Wind River; and Vinod Khosla, founding CEO of Sun Microsystems.
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