Reviewing the New Oracle NoSQL Database

Peter Wayner at InfoWorld just tested Oracle's new NoSQL database -- and he sounds impressed:

Oracle NoSQL might not offer the heady fun and "just build it" experimentation of many of the pure open source NoSQL projects, but that's not really its role. Oracle borrowed the best ideas from these groups and built something that will deliver good performance to the sweet spot of the enterprise market.

Given Oracle's long and prestigious database track-record, this positive evaluation probably takes no-one by surprise. Also unsurprising is the plethora of the new database's features, many of which are particularly applicable to Oracle's current enterprise customers.

Peter was especially impressed by how smoothly installation went -- even comparing the new Oracle NoSQL Database installation process to MySQL's (famous for its installation flawlessness). 

This is only a first impression, of course. For example, Peter was able to run only a few simple performance tests. But if Oracle's new database really does offer NoSQL speed and ACID-level reliability, as this early review claims it does, then their enterprise users should be very happy with the new product indeed.

Update: For more technical details and benchmarks, with more specific criticism and suggestions, see also this first impression and this benchmark.