Versant Corporation

Last updated
Versant Corporation
Industry Software
Database management
Founded1988
Defunct2012
FateAcquired by Actian (2012;11 years ago (2012))
Headquarters
Redwood City, California
,
USA
Products Object Database
RevenueIncrease2.svg 25,3 million USD (2008) [1]
Website www.versant.com   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Versant Corporation was an American-based software company building specialized NoSQL data management systems. Versant was founded in Menlo Park, California (USA) in 1988. It was headquartered in Redwood City, California.

Contents

It was noted in 2005 that the market share for object oriented databases held by Versant was "very small" compared to IBM and Oracle. [2] However, two years earlier, Versant ODBMS and IBM UniData were mentioned side-by-side as "two of the most recent examples of object-oriented database software" in a bestselling database design text. [3]

History

The company was founded by Dr. Kee Ong in August 1988 as "Object Sciences Corporation". Ong previously worked with the open-source relational database management system Ingres. Around this time object-oriented programming (OO) became popular, and the company used research done at the University of Wisconsin [4] for a commercial database system to complement OO languages. The company's initial executive team included Michael Seashols (CEO), Dr. Kee Ong (CTO), John Hughes (VP, Sales), Dr. Mary Loomis (VP, Services) and Susan Dickerson (VP, Business Development).

In early 1990 the company was renamed “Versant Object Technology.” In April 1993 David Banks took over as CEO. [5] On July 18, 1996 Versant had their initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange and traded under the symbol VSNT. [6] The company raised $14.9 million from the IPO, and was based in Menlo Park, California at the time, but moved to Fremont, California in 1997. [6] In January 1998 Nick Ordon succeeded Banks as CEO. [7] on July 15, 1998 the company was renamed again to Versant Corporation. [8]

In the 1990s, Versant went through a period where most of their R&D costs were spent on "maintaining and upgrading existing product releases" across a LARGE number of operating systems and hardware. According to a former VP of engineering, outsourcing this maintenance grind of R&D maintenance to India was the main action that allowed the company to survive the decade. [9]

In March 2004, Versant acquired Poet Software GmbH, a European-focused company targeting the Windows product market which had traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 2005, Jochen Witte, president of Poet Software, took over as CEO of Versant Corporation. In August 2005, the common stock had a 1-for-10 reverse stock split. On December 1, 2008 Versant acquired the assets of the database software business of Servo Software, Inc. (formerly named db4objects, Inc.). It developed the open source embedded database technology db4o. [1] [8]

The original implementation of Versant was targeted at C, C++ and Smalltalk users. In 1995 Versant introduced support for the Java programming language and then in 2009 for C# and the .NET platform. In 2012 Versant introduced Versant JPA, a Java Persistence API 2.0 compliant interface for its object database, with a technical preview of an analytics product including Apache Hadoop support.

In late 2012, after rejecting an offer by UNICOM Systems Inc., Versant Corporation announced it was being acquired by Actian Corporation, the commercial developer of Ingres and Vectorwise. The acquisition was promoted using the marketing term big data. [10] It closed in December for an estimated $37 million. [11]

Products

Versant Object Database was renamed Actian NoSQL Database and it's currently used as the metadata store for Avalanche, Actian's cloud data warehouse offering based on VectorH, an MPP version of Vector (formerly known as Vectorwise).

Other than Versant Object Database, Versant marketed two other commercial object-oriented database management systems (OODBMS), Versant JPA and Versant FastObjects, and the open-source database db4o.

Features comparison
NoSQL DatabaseNoSQL JPANoSQL Fast Objects
C/C++YesNoYes
JavaNoYesYes
.NETNoNoYes
Enterprise scalabilityYesYesNo
EmbeddableNoNoYes
Minimal administration – no specialized DBA requiredYesYesYes
Dual client/server caching architecture – improve performance by balancing resourcesYesYesYes
Multicore scalability – get the most value from your hardwareYesYesNo
No mapping code required – focus on the business problemYesYesYes
Online schema evolution – update your application without downtimeYesYesYes

The company also developed a product called "enJin", an infrastructure platform to work with other systems as a "transaction accelerator" by supporting decoupling between J2EE applications and data stores which worked as a type of middleware object cache. IBM suggested the use of Versant enJin as an accelerator in the context of IBM WebSphere applications, which themselves were middleware applications. [15] : 3 

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Object database</span> Type of database management system

An object database or object-oriented database is a database management system in which information is represented in the form of objects as used in object-oriented programming. Object databases are different from relational databases which are table-oriented. A third type, object–relational databases, is a hybrid of both approaches.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Informix</span> Database management software product family

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Object–relational database</span> Database management system

An object–relational database (ORD), or object–relational database management system (ORDBMS), is a database management system (DBMS) similar to a relational database, but with an object-oriented database model: objects, classes and inheritance are directly supported in database schemas and in the query language. In addition, just as with pure relational systems, it supports extension of the data model with custom data types and methods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingres (database)</span>

Ingres Database is a proprietary SQL relational database management system intended to support large commercial and government applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Db2</span> Relational model database server

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ADO.NET is a data access technology from the Microsoft .NET Framework that provides communication between relational and non-relational systems through a common set of components. ADO.NET is a set of computer software components that programmers can use to access data and data services from a database. It is a part of the base class library that is included with the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is commonly used by programmers to access and modify data stored in relational database systems, though it can also access data in non-relational data sources. ADO.NET is sometimes considered an evolution of ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) technology, but was changed so extensively that it can be considered an entirely new product.

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Jakarta PersistenceAPI is a Jakarta EE application programming interface specification that describes the management of relational data in enterprise Java applications.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Db4o</span>

db4o was an embeddable open-source object database for Java and .NET developers. It was developed, commercially licensed and supported by Actian. In October 2014, Actian declined to continue to actively pursue and promote the commercial db4o product offering for new customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actian NoSQL Object Database</span> Database management system

Actian NoSQL Database is an object database software product initially developed by Versant Corporation and currently owned by Actian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actian Zen</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actian Vector</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apache Drill</span> Open-source software framework

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Actian</span> American software company

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References

  1. 1 2 "Revenues of $6.0 million for Q4 2008 / Versant acquires db4objects' database business / Share repurchase program announced". Press release. December 4, 2008. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
  2. ↑ Frömming R, Rausch A (2005). "Chapter V. Migration of Persistent Object Models Using XMI". In Yang H (ed.). Advances in UML and XML-Based Software Evolution . Idea Group Publishing. p. 103. ISBN   1-59140-621-8 . Retrieved July 2, 2023– via Internet Archive.
  3. ↑ Hernandez, Michael J. (2003). "Chapter 1 The Relational Database (Beyond the Relational Model)". Database Design for Mere Mortals (2nd ed.). Addison-Wesley. p. 21. ISBN   0201752840 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ↑ Chou, H.T.; Dewitt, David J.; Katz, Randy H.; Klug, Anthony C. (October 1985). "Design and implementation of the wisconsin storage system". Software: Practice and Experience. 15 (10): 943–962. doi:10.1002/spe.4380151003. S2CID   40376932.
  5. ↑ Versant Object Technology (April 30, 1997). "Proxy Statement". Schedule 14A. US Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  6. 1 2 Versant Object Technology (March 28, 1997). "Annual Report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1996". Form 10-KSB. US Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  7. ↑ Versant Object Technology (April 30, 1998). "Proxy Statement". Schedule 14A. US Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  8. 1 2 Versant Corporation (January 14, 2009). "Annual Report for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2008". Form 10-K. US Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  9. ↑ Levy, Mitchell (2005). "Some ROI Stories (Case Study: Versant)". Happy about Outsourcing . California, United States: HappyAbout.info. pp. 26–27. ISBN   9780963330222 . Retrieved July 2, 2023– via Internet Archive.
  10. ↑ "Giving Thanks for Versant and Actian". Blog. Enterprise Strategy Group. November 26, 2012. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  11. ↑ Doug Henschen (February 1, 2013). "Actian Builds Mini Big Data Empire". Information Week. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
  12. ↑ [3] “New Versant JPA Delivers Multiple NoSQL Analytics,” Dr. Dobb’s Journal. October 28, 2012.
  13. ↑ [5] “FastObjects Tutorial,” YouTube. January 9, 2012.
  14. ↑ [6] Db4o website Archived 2012-12-27 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Chhabria, Sanjiv (2002). Accelerating IBM WebSphere Application Server Performance with Versant enJin. IBM International Technical Support Organization – via Internet Archive.
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