Startup offers small footprint main memory database for devices
Sep 12, 2001 — by LinuxDevices Staff — from the LinuxDevices Archive — viewsIssaquah, WA — (press release excerpt) — a new company, McObject LLC, is building data management technology to meet the unique needs of applications running within intelligent, connected devices. Founded by veteran developers who pioneered the first databases in set-top boxes, industrial automation, and other high-tech gear, McObject will ship its
An early release evaluation version of eXtremeDB 1.0 is now available for download. Supported platforms include Linux, VxWorks, Embedded NT, and Windows CE.
Why A New Database Company?
Intelligent devices, with their increasingly sophisticated features, demand better built-in data management. But existing business-oriented databases have proven less than ideal. Relational databases' memory and CPU requirements tack on costs. The technology lacks real-time responsiveness and tools for creating tightly integrated, highly efficient embedded systems.
McObject President and CEO Steve Graves learned these requirements first-hand, as a senior database industry executive working with manufacturers including Hewlett-Packard and Nortel Networks to adapt existing databases for high-tech gear. Making the database function within the confines of a set-top box, network switch or wireless device often required extensive, and expensive, customization.
“Relational database technology can be shoehorned into intelligent devices, but at a price,” Graves said. “We saw an opportunity to build a new data management engine from scratch, to meet the needs of emerging device-based applications economically and elegantly.”
The Opportunity
The market need recognized by McObject's founders is borne out by recent research. Embedded systems developers see the need to move from self-developed data management components to proven database solutions. In a study by Embedded Systems Programming magazine, 25 percent of respondents in 2000 reported they have used or considered using commercial data management technology in their projects, representing a 47 percent growth rate compared to a year earlier.
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