Sybase IQ

Sybase IQ, formally Sybase Adaptive Server IQ, is a relational database software system used for data warehousing, produced by the Sybase corporation.

Features
As a column-oriented DBMS, Sybase IQ stores data tables as sections of columns of data rather than as rows of data. This has a number of advantages; if a search is being done for items matching a particular value in a column of data, only the storage objects corresponding to that data column within the table need to be accessed. A traditional row-based database would have to read the whole table top to bottom.

Additionally, the column-based storage enables IQ to compress data efficiently on the fly; as each column is made up of a number of records of the same data type and size, compression can be very efficient and rapid.

Sybase IQ, in conjuction with Sun Microsystems and BMMsoft, has just announced that Sybase IQ powers the world's largest data warehouse implemented in history, consisting of over one petabyte (1,000 terabytes) of structured and unstructured data. The new independent audit report reveals that Sybase IQ provides eco-savings that not only make it environmentally friendly ("green"), but provide significant cost savings for customers. Sybase IQ's unique compression capability was proven to store one petabyte of raw data, including unstructured data, using only 160 terabytes of storage. This huge savings in storage achieves a 90 percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

Criticisms
Sybase IQ is optimized for data warehouse type applications, where data is added to databases but typically not modified much if at all, and the typical access is to search through the data.

The column based storage which enables good performance for reading through data somewhat slows down writing data (instead of just the last data object requiring updating with a row object, one data object per table column must be updated). Large volume data imports can still be reasonably efficient.

Performance in a transactional environment, where row records are accessed and updated regularly, is significantly worse than competing transactional row-based relational databases.