Oracle launches MySQL 5.6. IBM expands PureData line. And more

For 451 Research clients: IBM adds to PureData family with new Netezza-based system for analytics bit.ly/UXhZ8G

— Matt Aslett (@maslett) February 6, 2013

For 451 clients: Panopticon illuminates real-time visual analysis business, rides SAP’s HANA coattails bit.ly/YQpemt By Krishna Roy

— Matt Aslett (@maslett) February 5, 2013

Oracle Announces General Availability of MySQL 5.6 mwne.ws/XTC2Se

— Matt Aslett (@maslett) February 5, …

The CAP Theorem has become a convenient excuse for throwing data consistency under the bus. It is automatically assumed that every distributed system falls prey to CAP and therefore must sacrifice one of the three objectives, with consistency being the consistent fall guy. This automatic assumption is simply false. I am not debating the validity of the CAP Theorem, but instead positing that the onset of CAP limitations—what I call the CAP event horizon—does not start as soon as you move to a second master database node. Certain approaches can, in fact, extend the CAP event horizon.
Physics tells us that different properties apply at different scales. For example, quantum physics displays properties that do not apply at larger scale. We see similar nuances in scaling databases. For example, if you are running a master slave database, using synchronous replication with a single slave is no problem. Add nine more slaves and it slows the …

My editor Andy Oram recently sent me an ACM article on BASE, a technique for improving scalability by being willing to give up some other properties of traditional transactional systems.

It’s a really good read. In many ways it is the same religion everyone who’s successfully scaled a system Really Really Big has advocated. But this is different: it’s a very clear article, with a great writing style that really cuts out the fat and teaches the principles without being specific to any environment or sounding egotistical.

He mentions a lot of current thinking in the field, including the CAP principle, which Robert Hodges of Continuent first turned me onto a couple months ago. …