Full Table Scan http://www.fulltablescan.com/ The fix for the database junkie in you en Serendipity 1.4.1 - http://www.s9y.org/ spam-me-not-tom@fulltablescan.com Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:37:54 GMT http://www.fulltablescan.com/templates/default/img/s9y_banner_small.png RSS: Full Table Scan - The fix for the database junkie in you http://www.fulltablescan.com/ 100 21 fulltablescan/HwlWhttp://feedburner.google.com I *Knew* that Option Existed Somewhere! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fulltablescan/HwlW/~3/87YCpEpXRmY/index.php Humor http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/160-I-Knew-that-Option-Existed-Somewhere!.html#comments http://www.fulltablescan.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=160 0 http://www.fulltablescan.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=160 tom@fulltablescan.com (Tom) http://sqlinthewild.co.za/index.php/2010/04/01/running-sql-faster/ for details.

Maybe I should start compiling a list of these obscure but highly useful options... hrm...
]]> Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:31:36 -0400 http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/160-guid.html http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/160-I-Knew-that-Option-Existed-Somewhere!.html Asked and Answered: When Are You Going to Post Something New? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fulltablescan/HwlW/~3/uNZxwXHrhMI/index.php Questions http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/159-Asked-and-Answered-When-Are-You-Going-to-Post-Something-New.html#comments http://www.fulltablescan.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=159 0 http://www.fulltablescan.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=159 tom@fulltablescan.com (Tom)
When are you going to post some new stuff ?


First let me say that I'm flattered that anyone even noticed that I stopped posting stuff, and even more flattered that they weren't happy about it. So thanks. I appreciate you asking.

With that said, the answer is depressingly simple:

I have no idea.

I started Full Table Scan at a time when I was employed but largely unoccupied. Think wrist restraints of the precious metal variety. Boooorrrring. Combing my love of database technology and writing seemed an ideal way to pass the time.

When my employment nightmare finally came to an end, I decided to take some time off, enjoy my kids while they were still young, and finish the college degree that I had deferred after three very un-stellar years following high school. I took to doing some contract work part-time to grease the wheels and keep my brain from dripping out my ears, but largely I just checked out of society in general and specifically the database world.

A funny thing happened when I started doing contract work - I had to track how long I spent working. From there I would generate invoices, in order to get paid. As a result I became very conscious of where my time was spent and when I was spending time doing something other than playing with my kids. And that pretty much spelled the end of the posts to this blog.

I love databases, and I love to write, but I love my wife and kids a whole lot more. Given the choice between unpaid time with them and unpaid time writing blog posts, well... sorry y'all.

With the college degree finished and the children growing older, however, I've slowly increased the amount of time I spend working. (It's hard to spend time with kids who are in school most or all of the day.) I'm sure that I still don't count as a truly productive member of society, but then again I probably never did. Maybe some day I'll also get back into the habit of paying close attention to the database industry and recording my thoughts about it, but for now I think I'll keep plugging away at the more mundane problems my clients throw at me each day.

It certainly pays better.
]]> Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:40:20 -0500 http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/159-guid.html http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/159-Asked-and-Answered-When-Are-You-Going-to-Post-Something-New.html Irresistable Miscellaneous http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fulltablescan/HwlW/~3/yZ0RMPMtBfU/index.php Humor http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/158-Irresistable-Miscellaneous.html#comments http://www.fulltablescan.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=158 0 http://www.fulltablescan.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=158 tom@fulltablescan.com (Tom) Open Source Database Magainze. Uh-huh.

• Further proof that the database industry is hipper that people think: http://www.dataliberators.com. If nothing else I like Bob's goatee/sunglasses look.

• More silly (and slightly dated) YouTube database fun: 1 and 2

Carry on...
]]> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:09:02 -0400 http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/158-guid.html http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/158-Irresistable-Miscellaneous.html "New Breed" Database Extensibility http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fulltablescan/HwlW/~3/NObvwl7upLo/index.php Application Development DATAllegro DB2 Kognitio Netezza Oracle ParAccel SQL Server Teradata http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/153-New-Breed-Database-Extensibility.html#comments http://www.fulltablescan.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=153 2 http://www.fulltablescan.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=153 tom@fulltablescan.com (Tom)
Netezza
ParAccel
Kognitio
Greenplum (I think)
DATAllegro/Microsoft

Of course, the old guard is well-represented in this category as well - Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, Teradata, etc. all allow language extension via custom functions, plug-ins, etc.

I don't know enough about it yet to know, but I think that Greenplum and AsterData might also belong on this list due to their support for Map/Reduce.

It wasn't all that long ago (3 or 4 years) that most of these vendors didn't even support the full SQL standard, never mind compiled-code extensions to their SQL language. Oh, the possibilities.
]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:11:00 -0400 http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/153-guid.html http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/153-New-Breed-Database-Extensibility.html ParAccel Update http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fulltablescan/HwlW/~3/LtDGCKWtwtI/index.php ParAccel http://www.fulltablescan.com/index.php?/archives/155-ParAccel-Update.html#comments http://www.fulltablescan.com/wfwcomment.php?cid=155 0 http://www.fulltablescan.com/rss.php?version=2.0&type=comments&cid=155 tom@fulltablescan.com (Tom)

Business News


Company Growth


Unlike many (or even most) companies, ParAccel grew last year, doubling from roughly 30 to 60 employees.

POCs


ParAccel spent its first year of operation focused largely on competing effectively in POCs. They now measure POC lengths in days rather than weeks, and are actively engaged in multiple concurrent POCs in the field. In addition, POC sizes are growing, and now range between 10TB and 100TB systems, with tests often performed in both in-memory and on-disk configurations. To me, the combination of POC speed (days), location (in the field), size (100TB) and flexibility (memory vs. disk) is a sign that the product has matured rapidly.

I saw a handful of selected results from POCs with a variety of customers (retail, financials, entertainment, etc.), but the quote that really jumped out at me concerning POCs was "unbeaten on performance". The performance results I saw were impressive (though I honestly don't expect them to show me the unimpressive ones). To their credit, there were a couple queries in the POC results where ParAccel was not faster, and those were not redacted. A good sign if you ask me. Cynically, however, I have to wonder: if they're not getting beaten on performance, where are they getting beaten? ;-)

Reference Customer


Late last year ParAccel announced its first (as far as I'm aware) reference customer, namely Merkle. Interestingly Merkle selected ParAccel to replace an in-house data cleansing/integration application, not for reporting/analytics purposes. Said application hasn't been fully ported by Merkle yet, however, so I have a hard time calling this a big win yet. Reportedly, however, Merkle is finding analytic uses for their PA system in the interim. I wonder where they'll ultimately land.

More information about what Merkle has done with ParAccel is available in this TDWI webinar if you're interested.

EMC Partnership


ParAccel's partnership with EMC appears to be serving them well. EMC is inviting them to POCs, which can't be a bad thing. This makes imminent sense, really, as any deal won by one of the database vendors with embedded storage (e.g. Netezza, Exasol, Dataupia, etc.) means a deal with no money in it for EMC. I don't know yet, however, how many of those POCs ParAccel has won, though I think there has been at least one.

Technical Tidbits


Though our conversation was sales-and-marketing heavy, I did glean a few interesting technical tidbits.

• ParAccel compiles queries. Given the obvious connection between ParAccel and Netezza this isn't really surprising though.
• ParAccel supports SQL extensions via "custom C functions". I look forward to learning more about this.
• ParAccel uses a proprietary interconnect protocol to reduce packet loss and improve the performance of inter-node communications.
• ParAccel's support for Microsoft and Oracle SQL extensions is strong enough that POCs often involve "no rewriting of SQL".

More information is available in a soon-to-be-released "technical overview" whitepaper. I got a peek, and it's well worth reading - check it out when it becomes available.

Parting Thoughts


I tend to put more emphasis on how somebody says something than what they actually say; something like 90% of interpersonal communication is non-verbal, after all. And while it's certainly a VP of Marketing's job to put on a good face, Kim's general demeanor struck me as unusually relaxed and quietly confident. That, together with their forthrightness about situations where ParAccel isn't faster than the competition, gave me the sense that things are going pretty well for ParAccel. Companies who are confident about their strengths generally don't hide from their weaknesses, in my experience.

Only time will tell.
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