Sybase ASE 15.5 Includes In-Memory Option for Low-Latency, High Throughput Apps

Focusing on supporting low-latency, high throughput and scalable applications, Sybase has introduced version 15.5 of its Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) database, which includes a fully in-memory option to boost performance without the need to make application-level code changes.

In introducing the in-memory option, Sybase has leveraged technology it has already developed for its Risk Analytics Platform (RAP), which features an embedded in-memory database to support its analytics and other value-added functionality. The new version of ASE makes that high performance available directly to applications, via standard SQL commands.

The in-memory functionality will support real-time financial applications, providing a performance boost without the need to make code changes, says Sybase's director of business development for financial services, Sinan Baskan. Applications are likely to include market data handling and pre-trade analytics, and transactional systems, including order management and routing.

Sybase's entry into the in-memory market makes it a contender for high performance applications that have been the focus of competitors, such as IBM's solidDB, InterSystems, OneMarketData, and Oracle's TimesTen offering, as well as specialist databases, such as those from Kx Systems.

Apart from the in-memory feature, ASE 15.5 also supports high precision time-stamping of data down to microsecond level, which is important for market data processing applications. Also new is integration with IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager software, which automates backup functions, including background persistence of in-memory data to disk.