Graph Technology A Data Standby By For Every Fortune 500 Company – Computer Business Review

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As we leave the relational-dominated world behind, consolidation and market transformation is clearly coming, says Neo Technologys Emil Eifrem. But who will emerge as the next Oracle or DB2?

Ten years ago, there was no story when it came to databases. SQL dominated.

Fast forward, and interest and innovation around new database approaches has increased. The result: the rapid development of a very diverse set of alternative, NoSQL database models. Overnight, we went from a handful of options to hundreds, as the industry weighed different ways of working with information in different shapes, sizes and forms.

Developers have since tested and introduced dozens of new data models, including key-value, column-family and where my company has made its stand, graph databases. Without a doubt, weve seen relational databases maintain a strong position in the market.

However, weve also seen the emergence of a variety of alternatives to the SQL Servers, Oracles and DB2s ranging from niche to mainstream, with countless options in between. Currently, DB-Engines counts more than 300 different options a huge array of choices that point to a creativity in the marketplace as customers solve increasingly complex problems.

However, in a competitive market that large number isnt going to last forever. Were at a crossroads for database technology. When we look to the future, even just five years out, the world of data looks very different, a natural result of competition in the market as we settle on which databases have the ability to dramatically change business.

So, thats where the market stands with databases. But what happens when we zoom in on graph technology? Obviously, as the creator of Neo4j, Im biased towards that model. However, the figures show that this has seen impressive growth. And despite all of the competition vying for mindshare in the NoSQL space, weve seen graph database technology take first place as the fastest growing category of database of the last three years, according to DB-Engines.

What propels this growth and graph technologys commercial success is the belief that with graph databases the relationships between data are cherished, treated like first-class entities, on a par with the data itself. Those relationships are critical, because as enterprises become more technologically savvy, the value placed on connected data has increased.

The worlds top businesses are looking to connect everything supply chain, CRM, marketing technology, logistics, customers data, payment history, social media posts, and other things we havent figured out are significant yet making the value of these connections rapidly increase.

Organisations around the world realise that, in terms of data, a connected enterprise is more effective, and far more profitable, than the disconnected one. Graph and NoSQLs first years have been marked by rapid growth, but I believe that in 2017 and the years beyond, graph technology will become an enterprise standard for every Fortune 500 company.

Things have changed. The question is, is your organisation grasping the opportunity that change offers or not?

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Graph Technology A Data Standby By For Every Fortune 500 Company - Computer Business Review