I played with a fair number of them back in the 90's. ObjectStore, GemStone, etc.
I think these systems really only make sense in the telecommunications, CAD, etc. niches where performance is critical.
That said, the new trend in DB systems are main memory relational systems based on column store architectures (vs. traditional row store). The performance of such architectures is really quite promising. Go to Stonebreaker's talk at the latest VLDB in Viena.
I think these systems really only make sense in the telecommunications, CAD, etc. niches where performance is critical.
That said, the new trend in DB systems are main memory relational systems based on column store architectures (vs. traditional row store). The performance of such architectures is really quite promising. Go to Stonebreaker's talk at the latest VLDB in Viena.
Or take a look at his new company:
http://www.streambase.com/