While RDBMS-based databases are undoubtedly the cornerstone of today’s modern enterprise, many are re-thinking this one-size-fits-all approach to data management. The NOSQL movement (short for Not Only SQL) is a group of new data management technologies seeking new ways to reduce retrieval times, scale to meet demand, and store and link loosely typed data. Logicalis sees promise in these new systems, especially in cloud-based applications. The following are applications for various NOSQL solutions.
1. Key/Value – A cache that stores values (such as a part of an html page) that are quickly referenced by as unique key (Redis, Riak).
2. Column Data – A cache that stores column data (such as discrete user information) based on a unique key (Cassandra, HBase).
3. Documents – A system for quickly retrieving loosely structured documents (PDF, Word) or data (XML, JSON) not adhering to a predefined schema (Gemfire, CouchDB, MongoDB).
4. Graph – Like a Document store, graphs store data in loosely structured nodes, but extend the concept by defining relationships between nodes, such as a social media user with pictures, videos, and other users associated with them (Neo4j).
What do you think? Will our data live in NOSQL data grids (Ripe), or live on in traditional databases (Hype), or peacefully co-exist? We’d love to hear your opinions in the comments below.
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