Objectivity positions graph database as relational complement to InfiniteGraph 3.0

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1 Objectivity positions graph database as relational complement to InfiniteGraph 3.0 Analyst: Matt Aslett 1 Oct, 2012 Objectivity Inc has launched version 3.0 of its InfiniteGraph graph database, improving distributed parallel navigation and adding a user-defined algorithm library. Perhaps the most significant change with version 3.0 is the positioning, however, with Objectivity now being clearer about the role InfiniteGraph serves alongside relational databases, data warehouses and Apache Hadoop. The 451 Take We are seeing increased interest in the potential for analytic applications designed to exploit the richness of the graph model to analyze relationships between stored entities. Given it's mature technology and existing customer relationships, Objectivity is well-placed to take advantage of this interest with its InfiniteGraph distributed graph database, and we believe that positioning its technologies as a way to highlight the relationships between entities stored in relational databases and Hadoop will stand it in good stead. While we appreciate that some of the company's users would like to keep the details of their applications to themselves, once again we look forward to getting more information about reference customers sooner rather than later. Context Objectivity is best known for its Objectivity/DB object database, but the company has been Copyright The 451 Group 1

2 increasing its profile in recent years with InfiniteGraph, a distributed graph database based on Objectivity/DB and born out of customization projects. The first commercial release of InfiniteGraph arrived in August 2011, some 14 months after the initial creation of the InfiniteGraph business unit, and the company continues to work with existing and potential new customers on proof-of-concept (PoC) trials, both paid and unpaid, with a view toward establishing reference production examples. In January, Objectivity published a list of customers leveraging Objectivity/DB and InfiniteGraph, which included the US Department of Defense, the US Navy, the US Air Force, McKesson, Raytheon's Mission Operations and Services business unit, and Deloitte. Meanwhile, the company also continues to refine the functionality of InfiniteGraph: version 1.1 added an indexing framework to improve performance for indexing, data ingestion and lookups, while version 2.1 added a new plug-in framework designed to support the development, import, reuse and modification of queries. Version 3.0, due to be generally available October 15, adds distributed parallel navigation, a library of customizable quick-start plug-in and query algorithms, and improvements to elastic data placement for faster querying. With v.3.0, the company has also changed its initial pricing model, enabling users to deploy InfiniteGraph against an unlimited number of nodes and edges free of charge for 60 days. Like other graph databases, InfiniteGraph uses nodes, properties and edges to store data and the relationships between data, which is useful in analyzing social networks and the relationships between distributed entities, and is prompting interest among government and intelligence agencies Objectivity's core customer base for its object database technology. InfiniteGraph is differentiated by its distributed peer-to-peer, federated architecture, and claims to have a deployment that stretches to the analysis of hundreds of millions of nodes on a daily basis. Perhaps the most significant aspect of InfiniteGraph v.3.0 is the way in which Objectivity is positioning it and Objectivity/DB in relation to other data management technologies, including relational databases and the Apache Hadoop data-processing framework. Relational databases dominate the industry, and the continued use of relational databases is therefore the primary competition for any alternative database. Graph databases allow users to analyze relationships in a way that is impossible in relational databases, however, and Objectivity is keen to position its technology as complementary to relational databases as a means of unlocking details about the relationships between data. As such, it is positioning Objectivity/DB and InfiniteGraph as a Big Data Connection Platform to ingest data from structured relational databases as well as unstructured data stores such as Apache Hadoop, document databases and key value stores, before making it available for graph traversal, visualization and analytics. Copyright The 451 Group 2

3 For the most part, this analysis of data stored in InfiniteGraph is performed via applications developed specifically to take advantage of the data, although Objectivity is also continuing to work with visualization and analytic tools specialists on potential partnerships. A partnership with Tom Sawyer Software is already in place, enabling the Tom Sawyer visualization SDK to integrate with the InfiniteGraph data model and APIs. Competition The primary competition for InfiniteGraph comes from Neo Technology's open source Neo4j database. While Neo4j lacks the distributed architecture of InfiniteGraph, it can claim greater adoption and 'mindshare' thanks to its first-mover advantage and popularity among Java developers. It will be interesting to see over time whether Objectivity's maturity and existing commercial relationships will give it an advantage in targeting enterprise customers, or whether Neo Tech will gather enough momentum to get on the radar of more mainstream adopters. Other graph specialists include Sparsity Technologies, formed by the creators of the DEX graph database and spun off from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Spain, as well as Orient Technologies' OrientDB and the NuvolaBase OrientDB-based cloud service. Cray Research announced its arrival in this space in February with the launch of its YarcData division and urika graph database appliance. Additional graph technologies include Kobrix Software's HyperGraphDB, which is targeted mainly at semantic Web and artificial intelligence projects. Franz's AllegroGraph RDFStore is also targeted at the semantic Web, while InfoGrid from NetMesh is another open source project. VMware launched the Affinity social graph open source database project in February. Meanwhile, Microsoft Research is working on Trinity, a distributed graph database, while Google has its own Pregel graph-processing platform, which has inspired the Hadoop-based Apache Giraph project. Pegasus is a graph-mining system for Hadoop created by Carnegie Mellon University's school of computer science. Objectivity also reports having seen some customers attempt to develop projects using Oracle's MySQL and the Open Query GRAPH storage engine, while IBM earlier this year added a NoSQL graph store for rapid application development of graph applications to its DB2 database. The capability 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, although it has not been pushed to any significant extent by IBM so far. Oracle also recently renamed the Oracle Spatial option for its Oracle Database to Oracle Spatial and Graph, highlighting its graph capabilities. Copyright The 451 Group 3

4 Objectivity's traditional rivals include Progress Software's ObjectStore, Versant's Object Database, McObject's extremedb, Oracle's Berkeley DB, InterSystems' Caché and MarkLogic's XML database. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Objectivity has a long history of expertise in distributed databases and complex data sets. Opportunities Threats We are seeing increased interest in the potential for analytic applications designed to exploit the graph model to analyze relationships between stored entities. The company does not have a high profile outside of its niche markets, and turning PoCs into reference customers is taking some time. The history of the object database demonstrates the potential for alternative approaches to be subsumed by the relational database providers. IBM and Oracle have already started the process. Copyright The 451 Group 4

5 Reproduced by permission of The 451 Group; This report was originally published within 451 Research s Market Insight Service. For additional information on 451 Research or to apply for trial access, go to: Copyright The 451 Group 5