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-- PolePosition BENCHMARK - db4o UP TO 15x FASTER THAN JDO --
The open source benchmark PolePosition is a great platform to learn about the specific performance of persistence solutions in object-oriented environments. Earlier this year, published results showed that db4o outperforms a Hibernate/MySQL stack by 3-44x, for instance, depending on the task at hand, clearly illustrating that adding an object-relational mapper to the stack does seriously degrade performance. db4o should be considered whenever performance is critical.
PolePosition has now added another benchmark, testing db4o against the Java Data Objects (JDO) implementation by Versant, dubbed Versant Open Access (VOA.) Again, db4o's native, object-oriented persistence engine showed superior performance by orders of magnitude. Specifically, db4o outperformed a JDO/VOA/MySQL stack by 3-15x.
The online publication java.net has just published an excellent article on how to use PolePosition to write your own benchmarks. Check it out at today.java.net and put your own race cars on the track!
-- db4objects BUSINESS BACKGROUNDER - A GREAT READ FOR BUSINESS GUYS! --
If you think we write too much about bits and bytes and leave out important questions like, "How do the guys at db4objects make money with free software?" or "Aren't object databases dead?", we have a remedy for you:
The db4objects Business Backgrounder, available for immediate download, makes the business case for the open source object database. It shows how convergence of the embedded database market (a $1.86 BN market, slated to grow to $3.18 BN in 2009, according to IDC) and the open source phenomenon (a truly disruptive innovation) opened a window of opportunity for db4objects to successfully provide object database platform technology to Java and .NET developers in many industries worldwide.
-- db4o GLOBAL DEVELOPER CONFERENCE - VERSION 5.0 M1 IN JULY 2005 --
The first-ever db4o Global Developer Conference took place in early June in the beautiful setting of the Bavarian Alps. The core db4o project team discussed user requests and design concepts to be implemented in the second half of 2005 and beyond.
Key priorities for the development roadmap were defined as follows:
- Enable db4o's OO replication functionality for Hibernate, hence connecting to any SQL database server-side
- Offer an additional type-safe query system called "Native Queries," based on the work of William Cook to provide OO queries in Java/.NET using Java/.NET semantics
- Provide full .NET compliance (e.g., uppercase method names, query results as an IList instead of an ObjectSet)
- Offer transparent activation and transparent persistence for users who do not want to control activation and storage of objects manually
- Enhance performance for specific use-cases, e.g. by introducing deep indexing*
The core team will publish design proposals shortly in our user newsgroup and solicit your feedback and input.
All API changes (native queries, .NET compliance, transparent persistence) will be accommodated in db4o release V5. A first milestone release with native queries will be available later in July. The V5 development release is scheduled for October 2005, and the production release for early November 2005. db4o V5 will be fully backwards compatible to V4 and all of the existing APIs will continue to be available.
(*Current V4.5 production release patch 200 (V4.5.200), available for download, already offers improved indexing for complex queries with constraints on object identities.)
-- CUSTOMER FOCUS: db4o IN GEOINFORMATICS --
Geoinformatics is a common area of application for db4o. The immense complexity and dynamics of the underlying object models here lend themselves naturally to db4o's object database technology and its automatic schema evaluation.
Vertek, a division of Applied Research Associates, Inc., in Vermont/USA, is an industry leader of Cone Penetrometer Technology (CPT). db4o will be embedded in Vertek's next-generation geotechnical tools. db4o's .NET version was selected because it combined the ability to store complex object structures with accelerated development and also makes the software more flexible for alterations during Vertek's iterative development process. As a result, Vertek can meet tight deadlines despite the complexity of its products and can now better customize products according to market needs.
The Energy Research Center in Temixco, Mexico, collaborates with the Institute for Geoinformatics in Muenster, Germany, in the creation of a comprehensive web-accessible database for geochemical data. Researcher Andreas Jaeger: "We have chosen db4o because of its seamless integration with object-oriented development in Java: easy handling of hierarchical data structures, semaphore support, and complete query support via evaluations. The learning curve for the database is extremely low, the support is great, and both make it a good choice for scientists in all fields of study, regardless of their programming skills."
-- CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: db4o EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM BY ROBERTO ZICARI --
db4objects is proud to announce that Roberto Zicari, Professor of Database and Information Systems at Frankfurt University and representative of the OMG in Europe, has agreed to head db4o's new Educational Program to promote and further academic use of db4o.
Over the next months, Prof. Zicari will build a vendor-independent resource portal with materials on object persistence, database integration with Java and .NET, and embeddable object database systems.
db4o's Educational Program is designed to provide resources for:
- researchers and professors at Universities and Research Centers,
- developers at commercial companies, and
- developers in the open source community.
Roberto Zicari's mission to educate about object technology -- and in particular object database technology -- began in 1989, when he joined the Paris design team of O2, the first European object-oriented database product.
Zicari is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of object technology, databases, and e-commerce. Previously, he served as associate professor at Politecnico di Milano, Italy; Visiting scientist at IBM Almaden Research Center, USA, and the University of California at Berkeley, USA; Visiting professor at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, and at the National University of Mexico City, Mexico.
If you can't wait for the new portal to be finished, you can check out the resources db4objects has assembled so far (based on individual contributions from universities around the globe.) You'll find Jim Paterson's popular script on object persistence (Bell College, UK) and Adam Stevenson's lecture notes (Texas A&M University, USA). Or you can learn what top-tier research centers like Lawrence Livermore National Lab (University of California, USA) are accomplishing with db4o.
We invite you to share your research and teaching materials with the university community by sending in your scripts or providing links to your db4o-based open source projects (email).
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We appreciate your feedback, you can email us. Please let us know what you are thinking, and how we can help you. And please don't forget to share your db4o success stories with us!
With best regards
The db4objects team.
www.db4o.com
newsletter@db4o.com
Phone +1 (650) 577-2340
1900 S Norfolk Street, Suite 350
San Mateo, CA 94403 (USA)