Why are databases so important?

Most relational databases follow the SQL standard, they provide many tools and decent performance.
So why is choosing a database such an important decision?

• Cost and reliability: from one vendor to the next, the cost varies from zero to hundreds of thousands of pounds
• Performance: under specific conditions, some databases can outperform others by a huge margin
• Features: you may not need them immediately, but the availibility of some features may quickly become critical to your business
• Compatibility: the ability to migrate or export your data, link up to third parties and customers is essential and often underestimated

Choosing

Identify your current needs and plan for your future growth, choosing the right database to start with is essential.
We have been evaluating database offerings for over 7 years now, we are not tied to any specific vendor and we have developed the tools and knowledge required to do the best planning possible.

Optimizing and Data Mining

Wether you need to/want to increase the performance of your database infrastructure, increase the value of your data by providing newer, better ways of accessing it, throwing hardware at the problem or embarking on an expensive upgrade cycle, new investment or new development are usually not the best ways forward.
Comparing the options available implies that one must have the knowledge of what the other options are, which is best done by independant professionals with years of experience in all of the databases solutions available.

Porting and Migrating

Although the SQL standard is quite simple and has been around for some time, most databases vendors have developed their own version of the language with specific enhancements and features. Unfortunately, this means that migrating (or writing) code that is fully portable becomes more difficult as more features are being used...
We have a unique collection of tools and techniques to work around these issues.

Our database tools will be released under an Open-Source license and available for free download here.