Oracle boosts its big data credentials with NoSQL database release

Oracle has made its NoSQL database available for download as it steps up its push into the big data market.

The database is designed to to allow customers to manage large amounts of data with dynamic schemas such as web log data, sensors and smart meters, the company said.

"Oracle NoSQL Database is a key component of Oracle's big data strategy," said Andrew Mendelsohn, senior vice president, Oracle server technologies.

Mike Davis, senior analyst at Ovum, said that the company had had to release a product to manage big data as its current database was outdated.

"Customers looking to conduct analysis across big data, can't easily do that in the standard Oracle database as the data has to be stored in different formats. There isn't one format that suits all and so a new type of database was required," he said.

Eight days ago Oracle agreed to buy unstructured data management provider Endeca.

The Endeca portfolio has two products: Endeca InFront, which is a customer experience management platform within the e-commerce set-up; and Endeca Latitude, which produces analytics from structured information but combines it with unstructured data to get the complete picture.

Davis believes that this was a good strategic move that fits well with Oracle's big data strategy.

He also sees a clear link between the NoSQL database and the Endeca purchase.

"The NoSQL database can handle all of the structured elements such as the enterprise applications. However, the unstructured data such as social media responses and all of the feeds linked to social media is the complicated part.

"Oracle's search engine, while competent, is not optimised to deal with data in both structured and unstructured forms but this is something that Endeca has done quite well," he said.

The Oracle NoSQL database can be downloaded from the Oracle Technology Network.