As Q1 comes to a close its time to take another look at our NoSQL LinkedIn Skills Index, based on the number of LinkedIn member profiles mentioning each of the NoSQL projects. This is the second update since we rebooted the analysis in September 2012 to account for more products and refine our search terms.
A few interesting statistics to pick out: Neo4j has, as predicted, jumped ahead of MarkLogic for sixth place. No other changes of position, but outside the top ten, shown here, Apache Accumulo continues to grow well.
In fact, Apache Accumulo had the fastest rate of growth for the second quarter in succession, just ahead of DynamoDB and OrientDB -once again – followed by Apache Cassandra and MongoDB.
MongoDB’s growth means that it once again extended its lead as the most popular NoSQL database, according to LinkedIn profile mentions. As the chart below illustrates, it now accounts for 46% of all mentions of NoSQL technologies in LinkedIn profiles, according to our sample, compared with 45% in December.
One of the most complicated aspects of putting together our database landscape map was dealing with the growing number of (particularly NoSQL) databases that refuse to be pigeon-holed in any of the primary databases categories.
I have begun to refer to these as “multi-model databases” in recognition of the fact that they are able to take on the characteristics of multiple databases. In truth though there are probably two different groups of products that could be considered “multi-model”:
True multi-model databases that have been designed specifically to serve multiple data models and use-cases
Examples include:
FoundationDB, which is being designed to support ACID and NoSQL, but more to the point in this instance, multiple layers including key-value, document, and object layers
Aerospike, which is planning to combine SQL, key value, and document and graph database technologies in a single database by bringing together its Citrusleaf NoSQL database with the acquired AlchemyDB NewSQL project
OrientDB, which is, at heart, a document database, but can also be used as a graph database; as an object database, making use of the Java persistence API; and as a hybrid database, taking advantage of multiple models to serve different application requirements
ArangoDB, which promises to deliver the benefits of key value and document and graph stores in a single database
Other products that could be considered true multi-model databases are:
Couchbase Server 2.0, which can be used as both a document store and a key value store, as well as a distributed cache
Riak, which is a key-value store, although it can be used as a document store since the value can be a JSON document
NuoDB, which will provide compatibility with other databases by taking on multiple ‘personalities’ – an Oracle personality via PL/SQL compatibility is in the development roadmap, as is a document store personality via JSON support.
General-purpose databases with multi-model options
What’s the difference between multi-model databases and existing general-purpose databases that have optional capabilities for serving multiple models? My book book it’s about being designed for purpose, but I’m sure that will be a debating point for the future. In the mean-time, examples include:
Oracle MySQL 5.6, which can support both SQL-based access and key-value access via the Memcached API.
Oracle MySQL Cluster 7.2, which similarly supports concurrent NoSQL and SQL access to the database.
IBM DB2 10, which extends DB2’s hybrid relational and XML engine to enable the storage and management of graph triples, as well as support for the SPARQL 1.0 query language.
Akiban Server, which has the ability to treat groups of tables as objects and access them as JSON documents via SQL.
PostgreSQL h-store, which can be used for storing key-value pairs within a PostgreSQL data field, thereby enabling schema-less queries against data stored in PostgreSQL
We are also aware of other NewSQL database that plan to adopt support for popular NoSQL data models, while IBM has also talked about plans to integrate key value store NoSQL access capabilities with DB2 and Informix database software.
Other products that could be considered multi-model options include:
Oracle Spatial and Graph, an option for Oracle Database 11g.
One of the drivers of NoSQL database adoption has been polyglot persistence – using multiple databases depending on the specific requirements of individual applications. Multi-model databases contradict this trend, to some extent, so it will be interesting to see whether they begin to gain traction.
While we see the wisdom of selecting the best database for the job, we also recognise that it could sometimes be a matter of choosing the best data model for the job, while relying on a single storage back-end.
Apache Cassandra and BigTop updates. And more
And that’s the Data Day, today.
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