The Need for NoSQL Databases

Amazon, Facebook, Google etc were among the first who revealed the shortcomings of relational database technology to serve new app requirements. Although there were no alternatives during those days, so technology giants created some useful data management methodologies on their own. This invention encouraged interest because there were businesses which were dealing with the same problem. Open source NoSQL database projects were created to influence the work of the big ones and gradually commercial companies followed up.

In the present scenario, the NoSQL database technology deployment is increasing rapidly among online businesses. It’s being observed as more practical and manageable as compare to relational databases because a data model devoid of schema is generally a better choice to manage the variety and type of data typically gathered and processed these days.

There are basically 4 inter-related megatrends that are responsible for moving towards NoSQL: Big Data, IoT, Big Users, and the Cloud.

Big Users

Almost each new app hosted is available on the Internet that supports users from all over the world, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. According to the data, more than 2 billion people are now connected to the Internet globally and the amount of time they usually spend online is increasing each day. This directly and drastically increases the number of existing users. The increasing number of active users along with the relentless usage pattern encourage the need of a scalable database technology.  

IoT

With the eruption of digital telemetry, the amount of machine-generated data s increasing. I can’t think of any major thing that isn’t connected to the Internet nowadays. The innovative businesses are utilizing the IoT to reduce costs, time to market, improve efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction. It is a way to access universal data in real-time. But telemetry data is not completely structured, small in size, and continuous. The relational database can’t effectively manage it, therefore, NoSQL is required.

Big Data

Managing data has become easier than it was with the help of social media and third parties. Data usage is also rapidly changing the nature of marketing, communication, shopping, and relationship management. Apps that can’t keep up with the technology will fall behind eventually. NoSQL offers a data model that maps nicely to the app’s organization of data and makes the interaction between different elements very easy and simple.  

The Cloud

During the initial days, most of the business apps were single-user apps running on a local personal computer. Most of the data-intensive, multi-user apps used a two-tier, client-server architecture that ran within the firewall and supported a specific number of users. In this structure, applications are accessed using a web browser connected to the Internet. NoSQL technologies are more appropriate for the highly distributed behavior of the three-tier Internet architecture.