On the Radar: VoltDB, Just the Latest Database Company from Mike Stonebraker

The company is commercializing new database software originally developed at MIT (where Stonebraker is on the faculty) and known as Horizontica. Palmer calls it a "high-throughput, lightweight, very distributed" database architecture that runs entirely in memory. "It's purpose-built for running hundreds of thousands of transactions a second," offering big performance improvements over garden-variety databases from Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, or MySQL, Palmer claims. VoltDB is part of a space called OLTP (online transaction processing), which targets customers that handle lots of transactions daily and want instant access to that information, like financial services institutions, airlines, and retailers.

The VoltDB team is still just six people, Palmer says. Their funding -- several million dollars so far -- comes from a single strategic investor, Global Electronic Trading Company (GETCO), an electronic trading firm headquartered in Chicago. GETCO will also be the first customer for VoltDB, sometime later this year. GETCO will use VoltDB in combination with Vertica's database, and in fact Vertica's sales force will also offer VoltDB to other customers. The existing market for database software is crowded and competitive, Palmer acknowledges, so the assistance Vertica is providing will give VoltDB a leg up.

There's a close relationship between VoltDB and Vertica. Former Oracle executive Jerry Held serves on both boards, as do Stonebraker and Palmer. Vertica also holds a substantial stake in the new company -- though not a majority. Palmer's currently serving as VoltDB's chief technology officer, and he says the company will soon recruit a "senior business development person" -- but not necessarily a CEO.

Is the new company going to avoid venture funding entirely? Palmer says they've been keeping their burn rate low, but that they may indeed raise venture money at some point. "We want to do it when we don't need it," he says, affording the company more negotiating leverage -- and presumably, a higher valuation.

Felda Hardymon of Bessemer Venture Partners, who sits on the board of Vertica but isn't involved with VoltDB, told me on Friday that he doesn't think the new venture will be a distraction for Vertica. "There was enough of a market test" -- IE, GETCO's interest in using and funding the new database software -- "that we really know that this is a powerful and viable technology, and in addition, we had access to a really brilliant lift-off guy in Andy Palmer."

Keeping track of Palmer's and Stonebraker's companies is turning into a full-time job...

Update: Later in the week, Mass High Tech got Stonebraker to elaborate on what VoltDB is up to.