MySQL has been the favored database of web programmers who need to get started on the cheap. Unfortunately, the program has limitations. Facebook, for example, was and still is built primarily on MySQL, and now runs over 4,000 separate shards and 9,000 instances of memcached just to keep up. Every single user change, from a “like” to a status update, is inputted into a database via MySQL. The mind-boggling number of transactions performed on a daily basis makes the underlying database technology less than ideal.
A group of programmers started an unofficial “NoSQL” movement, which aims to replace MySQL with a different data strategy. However, few other databases can pass the ACID test, in which ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability. Other programmers such as Michael Stonebraker have started calling for the development of a “NewSQL,” which would merge the functionality and ACID compliance of MySQL with a much larger base and outlook. Instead of being designed for a simple website, the NewSQL would be scalable, allowing for millions of transactions instantaneously without compromising the data handling methods of a traditional MySQL database.
Investors have not ignored the potential benefits of such a project. The NewSQL market is burgeoning with potential investment opportunities. If a company could design a speedy database to meet the demands of 21st century online behemoths like Facebook, that company would essentially become the next Microsoft.
With cloud computing becoming an ever larger share of the overall computing market, innovators must increasingly think in terms of scale. The 21st century offers a level of accessible detail and information that is unprecedented in terms of human history. If the 20th century opened Pandora’s archives, it is now the business of the 21st century to learn how to make sense of it all in the shortest and most energy-efficient way possible.
NewSQL may be the building block to a hyper-fast, hyper-efficient and low energy consumption data sorting mechanism for the cloud. Of course, it remains to be seen how this proposed new database will actually take shape. If history is any indicator, now that the need has been clearly identified, the product can’t be far behind.