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Why DBXten?
For a database application that stores and accesses very large sequences of data, why not use a server extension that, on average:
- decreases your total database size by a factor of 25
- generates indexes more than 60 times faster
- speeds up insertion of rows by a factor of 3
while dramatically improving data retrieval times for single and concurrent queries.
You can achieve all these goals using DBXten, a patented DataBase eXtension technology developed by BCS. Rather than store the data values in separate rows, or even in external files, our technology brings them all into the database in a modular and highly efficient way. To provide fast search and retrieval capabilities, DBXten then takes advantage of this storage mechanism to generate fast and compact indexes on the stored data. As a result, the DBXten database extension dramatically speeds up the ingestion and indexing of data sequences while reducing storage space requirements too.
Where does DBXten really make a difference?
Applications that would especially benefit by the DBXten database extension are those that need to generate, access, and process high-volume temporal or spatial sequence data, such as:
- geophysical prospecting (multidimensional pressure, acceleration data)
- financial analysis (bid value, ask value data)
- GIS (vector, 2D and 3D polygon, DEM data)
- resource management (grid-based environmental data)
- meteorology (multidimensional grids of pressure, humidity, velocity data)
- acoustic array analysis (multi-channel pressure data)
- tracking (multi-channel location data)
- ocean observatories (conductivity, temperature, depth, current data)
Which databases can DBXten run on?
DBXten is already available for IBM Informix, Oracle, and PostgreSQL, and we are currently porting it to other well-known database systems.
Can you show me some real results?
Click here for a one page summary of test results.
What standards will DBXten be compliant with?
We are familiar with existing and emerging standards, such as those from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). For example, the OGC has undertaken a set of activities to enable the distribution and sharing of sensor data over the Web. This project is referred to as Sensor Web Enablement (SWE). We are focusing on three standards within the SWE framework that are used for exchanging data, i.e., the Sensor Observation Service, Sensor Markup Language, and Observation & Measurement. Catalogue Services for the Web is also an emerging OGC standard for cataloguing almost anything that can be found on the Web. In addition, the Web Coverage Service (WCS) is a standard web service for exchanging geospatial data. WCS provides available data together with its detailed descriptions, allows complex queries against this data, and returns data with its original semantics.
We are currently working towards ensuring compliance of DBXten with these standards.
When is using DBXten most appropriate?
DBXten is designed for efficient ingestion, storage, indexing, and retrieval of "weak entity tuple data". In this context, weak entities correspond to data items (such as stock prices or temperatures) that only exist when a parent entity (a particular stock or sensor) exists. Tuples denote the relation between certain components of a data sequence, such as {time, latitude, longitude} in a location-tracking application. Other characteristics of weak entities are:
- they occur on the "many" side of a one-to-many relationship
- they are children of a single parent entity
- they have no other relationships or constraints (e.g., foreign key or domain constraints)
- they can consist of an arbitrary number of components
The high-volume data applications listed above all involve weak entity tuple data. If your application involves such data, then using DBXten will produce dramatic improvements in efficiency for your database solutions.
Where can I get more information?
Click here to view a PDF version of the Programmer's Guide (Linux Version) for the DBXten database extension for PostgreSQL.
Click here to view a PDF version of the Programmer's Guide (Linux Version) for the DBXten database extension for IBM Informix.
Click here to read more about DBXten and see some test results.
To find out how to use DBXten with your application, contact BCS. |
DBXten
