X
Business

Basho rolls out open source version of its Riak TS database

Optimized to handle time series data, the database caters to the growing world of the Internet of Things
Written by Stephanie Condon, Senior Writer

Basho Technologies CEO Adam Wray is convinced the developer ecosystem around the Internet of Things is "yearning" to find its open source database of choice -- and he's convinced that Basho's Riak TS is it.

"Twelve months from now, any time someone goes to build an IoT app... they'll say naturally we should use Riak TS," Wray said.

The database firm first released Riak TS in October, boasting that it's the only enterprise-grade NoSQL database optimized for IoT and time series data. Riak TS is built to store and retrieve time series data -- which is collected at intervals and marked with a time-stamp -- with enhanced read and write performance. Now with version 1.3, it's extending an open-source version of Riak TS, adding support for multi-cluster replication and enhancing its ease of use with support for APIs and SQL shell commands.

Time series data is often generated by IoT devices like smart meters in the energy industry. It's also often generated in large volumes. The Weather Company, for instance, uses Riak TS to store terabytes of data generated on a daily basis related to metrics like barometric pressure, temperatures, and humidity.

With version 1.3 of Riak TS, it should be easier to build new applications around that data, Wray explained. For instance, data about the weather could be deployed to make adjustments in a grocery store, where customers' shopping preferences are influenced by how hot it is outside. With support for APIs and SQL shell commands, version 1.3 is designed so that engineers can "walk right in and start going," Wray said.

Meanwhile, by making Riak TS open source, engineers have the capability to build out feature sets if they want to, free of proprietary standards. By comparison, Wray said, "the Oracle approach is once they've got you, they own you."

A new VisionMobile survey shows that open source is, in fact, a "major factor" in the Internet of Things. In its survey of 3,700 IoT developers, 91 percent said they use open source technology in their projects.

Editorial standards