NoSQL Ready For The Enterprise

There is no denying that NoSQL database technology has been a major force in the success of web-based powers like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc. Applications that scale to the 10’s of millions need the scalability that these non-relational databases offer.  However, until now the picture for NoSQL for the enterprise has been a bit fuzzier.  Do enterprise database needs outstrip the performance of Oracle, MySQL and other traditional DBs? Swedish import Neo Technology thinks so and their investors agree. They are launching an assault to bring NoSQL to the enterprise.

Neo Technology may be a name you are not familiar with, but they are no stranger to NoSQL.  They have actually been around for 10 years, having started in Sweden. The Neo4j project has been and remains open sourced. The company offers three versions of their product under GPL and AGPL licenses. I had a chance to speak with Neo’s CEO Emil Eifrem about the plans for the company. Last month they announced an almost 11 million dollar venture round led by Fidelity Growth Partners Europe. In addition to the capital they have also expanded the executive team by adding Rod Johnson (chairman) – SpringSource, VMware, Rickard Öberg – JBoss, XDoclet, Struts and Lars Nordwall – SugarCRM, Pentaho.  Additionally, the company announced customer wins with such enterprise names as Cisco, StudiVZ, Viadeo, and Deutsche Telekom. Eifrem says that the time for NoSQL in the enterprise is now and Neo is ready.

As you would expect, Emil also says that Neo has a better NoSQL than some of the other competitors. According to the company what sets Neo apart is:

1. A graph data model that enables high

performance queries on complex, connected data

2. A graph data model that simplifies the

development of applications using complex,

connected data

3. Mature support for transactions

4. Enterprise-grade durability that never loses data

5. Awesome Java support

Having Rod Johnson the founder of Spring on board as both an investor and Chairman would logically give Neo a solid link to the Spring community which is 3 million users strong. As a matter of fact Neo is launching its “coming out” party at the SPRINGONE 2GX 2011 CONFERENCE in Chicago where it is announcing Spring Data Neo4j 2.0. 

Will all of this give Neo a leg up in the race to bring NoSQL to the enterprise? That remains to be seen. But while many of the NoSQL companies are looking for the next twitter, foursquare or Zynga to use the product, Neo has its eyes firmly on the enterprise market.