eXtremeDB-64 In-Memory Database Scales Massively In Real-Time Telecom Routing Application

McObject®, developer of the eXtremeDB® In-Memory Database System (IMDS), announced that Transaction Network Services (NYSE: TNS) will integrate the 64-bit edition of eXtremeDB in TNS's massively scalable Carrier ENUM Registry technology. The TNS product enables telecom carriers and other service providers to instantly search billions of records in order to route calls and support advanced calling features. The company chose eXtremeDB-64 after internal testing confirmed its best-in-class performance, scalability and reliability.

While speed critically differentiated eXtremeDB-64 in TNS's tests, other features positioned it as a mature, well-rounded solution and sealed its selection for the Carrier ENUM Registry. These included its multi-version concurrency control (MVCC) transaction manager, which eliminates database "locking" and improves scalability, especially on multi-core systems; transactions supporting the ACID (Atomic, Consistent, Isolated and Durable) properties, to safeguard data integrity; specialized index types, including hash tables and Patricia tries; and the database's hybrid storage capability, which supports storage on persistent media for selected record types.

TNS's Carrier ENUM Registry performs one of the most time-sensitive tasks in communications - providing other systems with the call routing and related data needed to deliver a service, at the moment a call or message is originated. In past versions, Carrier ENUM Registry accomplished this real-time search using in-memory database code developed specifically for the application.

However, the registry has evolved from its origins as a bridge between the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and new IP-based networks, gaining complexity along with new features. Supported services now include number portability, IP-peering between telephone service providers, SMS/MMS routing, unbundling of services (allowing messaging to be offered separately from voice, for example), customized views of data, routing based on time/destination/origination, and more.

"With the increasingly complex business logic required to serve incoming queries, and the growing amount of stored data, we determined that the Carrier ENUM Registry will benefit from an off-the-shelf database system that is robust, flexible, and provides low latency in lookups, while scaling to hundreds of millions to billions of records," said Manjul Maharishi, director of telecom software development at TNS.

When TNS engineers researched in-memory database products, two aspects of eXtremeDB stood out. First, McObject developed it from scratch as an IMDS, targeting applications, such as the Carrier ENUM Registry, whose need for fast response times stretches the boundaries of traditional database system capabilities.

Second, McObject had already charted eXtremeDB's performance managing massive amounts of data in its Terabyte Plus In-Memory Database System (IMDS) Benchmark report. This study – the first published benchmark test of an IMDS beyond 1TB managed data – measures eXtremeDB's capabilities with a database exceeding 15 billion rows (1.17 terabytes), performing multiple query types, with different APIs (SQL ODBC and native) and varying numbers of execution threads. It documents breakthrough performance, with results in the 10's of millions of query transactions per second on SGI Altrix 4700 hardware with 80 dual core 1.6 GHz Itanium 2 processors (160 cores total) and 4 TB NUMA RAM, running SUSE enterprise Linux server 9. (In contrast, most benchmark tests of on-disk, enterprise DBMSs measure results in transactions per minute.)

In TNS's own testing, eXtremeDB's performance exceeded 2 million queries per second with a 10 million-row database. When the TNS test upped the challenge by increasing database size 3000% (to 300 million records), eXtremeDB's responsiveness fell only minimally, validating the near-linear scalability results documented in McObject's own report. The test platform consisted of Intel Xeon X5570 2.93 GHz hardware, with 8 cores and hyper-threading enabled, running Red Had Enterprise Linux 4, with 72 GB RAM.

"Our evaluation determined that eXtremeDB-64 outperforms other in-memory database systems, meeting the Carrier ENUM Registry's current needs and, just as importantly, accommodating future growth. Our evaluation was aided by McObject's documentation and benchmarks, which thoroughly and honestly present eXtremeDB's capabilities. In addition, the support provided to us by the eXtremeDB team has been highly commendable," Maharishi said.

"We often think of telecom software as small-footprint embedded systems running inside a switch or base station, and eXtremeDB plays a role in many such applications. But some communications systems, such as TNS's Carrier ENUM Registry, demand high scalability along with real-time performance. To meet this demand, which is typical in our 'real-time enterprise' market segment, McObject offers its 64-bit eXtremeDB edition and powerful features including MVCC support. We're gratified these capabilities have proven such a good fit for TNS's registry application," said McObject CEO Steve Graves.

About McObject

Founded by embedded database and real-time systems experts, McObject offers proven data management technology that makes applications and devices smarter, more reliable and more cost-effective to develop and maintain. McObject counts among its customers industry leaders such BAE Systems, Siemens, Phillips, EADS, JVC, Tyco Thermal Controls, F5 Networks, CA, Motorola and Boeing. McObject, based in Issaquah, WA, is committed to providing innovative technology and first-rate services to customers and partners. The company can be reached at +1-425-888-8505, or visit www.mcobject.com.

McObject and eXtremeDB are registered trademarks of McObject LLC. All other company or product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.