Sybase IQ

Sybase IQ, formally Sybase Adaptive Server IQ, is a relational database software system used for data warehousing, produced by the Sybase corporation.

Features

As a column-oriented DBMS, Sybase IQ stores data tables as sections of columns of data rather than as rows of data. This has a number of advantages; if a search is being done for items matching a particular value in a column of data, only the storage objects corresponding to that data column within the table need to be accessed. A traditional row-based database would have to read the whole table top to bottom.

Additionally, the column-based storage enables IQ to compress data efficiently on the fly; as each column is made up of a number of records of the same data type and size, compression can be very efficient and rapid. [http://www.sybase.com/content/1035804/SybaseIQ-12.7-010407-wp.pdf accessed September 11, 2007]

Sybase claims [ [http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1054047] ] that Sybase IQ now powers the world's largest data warehouse implemented in history, consisting of over one petabyte (1,000 terabytes) of structured and unstructured data, designed and implemented by BMMSoft. Further, citing this example, Sybase claims that Sybase IQ is a more efficient database for certain customers, reducing equipment and processing needed, and thus reduced energy consumption compared to more traditional row-based databases.

Since databases with limited domains (e.g., one that contains state names like VA, MD, WV, NJ, etc.) and high row counts are incidentally compressed by storage in column form (as only one example of each value in the domain is stored), those types of databases can be stored using less space than those employing more traditional row storage. Sybase claimed that in the case of the BMMSoft data warehouse, their one petabyte of raw transactional data (or 500 terabytes of transactional and 72 terabytes of multimedia) was represented using only 260 terabytes of storage.

Criticisms

Sybase IQ is optimized for data warehouse type applications, where data is added to databases but typically not modified much if at all, and the typical access is to search through the data. The column based storage which enables good performance for reading through data somewhat slows down writing data (instead of just the last data object requiring updating with a row object, one data object per table column must be updated). Large volume data imports can still be reasonably efficient. Performance in a transactional environment, where row records are accessed and updated regularly, is significantly worse than competing transactional row-based relational databases.

External links

* [http://www.sybase.com/products/datawarehousing/sybaseiq Sybase IQ website]
* [http://www.petersap.nl/SybaseWiki/index.php/Category:IQ Technical documents at SybaseWiki]

ee also

* Teradata, IQ's primary competitor

References