If all you needed was one needle from one haystack, you could dig through the pile using old technology. But in your work you’re faced with many haystacks, each as big as a mountain. Somewhere, there are needles, and you need to find them without disturbing a single stalk of hay. Blasting past the performance boundaries of other database technologies, Objectivity/DB shows not just the needles, but their relationships to each other (and to everything else in the haystack mountains, for that matter).

Complex data is what Objectivity/DB was built for, whether "complex" means super-rich data like video and radar, or data with complicated relationships, ontologies and networks. The more complex your data, the more you see Objectivity/DB’s superiority. In some applications, Objectivity/DB can outperform the competition by as much as a thousand times. That’s a lot of "Eureka!" moments you might otherwise miss.

Objectivity/DB puts you at the forefront of your field, helping you make discoveries faster and more accurately than with any other type of database management system. Objectivity/DB is the leading, fully distributed Object Database for data fusion applications. With its ability to handle massive volumes of data, from a near endless number of sources and in any medium – voice, video, text, photo and more – Objectivity/DB allows your applications to take a jumble of information and present a single, clear picture of the landscape.

Objectivity/DB has proven itself in several fields where finding needles in haystacks of data is paramount.

• Government Security & Intelligence
• Data-Intensive Sciences
• Financial Services

For all the uncertainty in today’s security landscape, one thing is crystal clear: government agencies have more data to analyze, with greater complexity, and coming from more sources than ever before. On top of that, there are more users needing answers from the data, and predicting unknown events needs to be done with unprecedented speed.

With so much riding on your analysts’ ability to see the facts through all the information, your application needs a database that can quickly and accurately make sense of the mountains of data that it collects.

With Objectivity/DB, you can:

• get real-time performance even with data volumes that were previously unmanageable
• work in multimedia: documents, speech files, electronic data, photo, video and other formats
• take your media, extract the metadata, and store it in a useful format, and discover the connections between the data, all while preserving the original source
• easily interface with other databases and applications, providing a single view of the combined data
• allow multiple users to add, access and make changes simultaneously, from disparate locations

Objectivity/DB is fully scalable and a proven performer. Clients and partners include the FBI and NASA, defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, and researchers like the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other innovators in their fields.

See how Objectivity/DB solved data management challenges for:

• Northrop Grumman
• THREADS
• Ontology Works Inc.

Objectivity/DB is the choice of organizations experiencing the following difficulties with other DBMSs:

• the data you feed your applications comes in too fast, and you can’t ingest it without getting run over.
• since you store data in a less robust database platform, the benefits of fusing data from different sources are beyond your reach. The result is difficulty navigating or querying against the network of relationships between data.
• inability to understand complex data, particularly when there’s a need to map and measure relationships and flows between knowledge-processing entities.
• inadequate visual and mathematical analysis of relationships

The Challenge:
The third-largest U.S. defense contractor had a need for a complex, mission-critical interactive analysis involving billions of objects. What’s more, there was no existing methodology for this complex analysis, so any tool developed would have to be able to change on the fly as the methodology was fine tuned.

Before entering a design phase, the government asked for a study to prove that the analysis was possible at all. Relational databases were ruled out immediately, unable to perform the task. Finally, Objectivity/DB and a second ODBMS were evaluated head to head for ingest rate, analysis (speed and accuracy) and space consumption.

The Objectivity/DB Solution:
"Objectivity was the clear winner," says Northrop Grumman’s David Capka. Objectivity/DB was unsurpassed in the hard criteria, and also came out on top in the intangibles: Capka points out that Objectivity provided support throughout the process like a partner, not a supplier. Today, after five years of run time in this application, Objectivity/DB’s performance has surpassed all the test criteria, the project has scaled beyond the original design goals without trouble, and there has been no down time whatsoever due to the database.

The Challenge:

Counter-terrorism analysts needed an application to compile and analyze HUMINT – intelligence that comes from human sources – with an end goal of generating actionable information. THREADS was the proposed application, and its developers set out to find the best database management solutions for the complex task.

The Objectivity/DB Solution:

Having already used Objectivity/DB to create ASA, a similar intelligence tool, the developers knew from first-hand experience that Objectivity/DB allowed them faster development and proven scalability, among other advantages. Nonetheless, they created a performance study, pitting Objectivity/DB against a leading relational database management system (RDBMS).

The databases were tested for speed and accuracy in data insertion, messaging, EEIs and deep queries. In every test, Objectivity/DB matched or beat the RDBMS. In deep queries, Objectivity/DB was 25 times faster. Objectivity/DB was the clear choice for the THREADS project.

The Challenge:

The proposed High Performance Knowledge Server (HPKS) had big information demands: it was projected to have terabyte-scale volumes of data and very sophisticated queries. Managing the flow of information quickly and easily was critical for government, finance, drug discovery and other partners. The massive yet intricate needs of the HPKS were impossible to realize with traditional database systems, and any solution would have to be entirely scalable and reliable. Clearly, yesterday’s database solutions would not be adequate.

The Objectivity/DB Solution:

"Objectivity is the only database solution that offers us the scalability and performance we need," says Bill Andersen, chief scientist at Ontology Works, Inc. Harnessing the power of Objectivity/DB to find and describe the complex relationships between vast numbers of objects in near real-time, HPKS enables previously unheard-of analyses. "Additionally," adds Andersen, "we selected Objectivity because of their stature in the high performance database marketplace and the caliber of the technical and support personnel."

Here’s a word worth noting: Yotabyte. That’s a trillion terabytes – the amount of information an Objectivity/DB can handle. Objectivity/DB is the front runner in data-intensive applications. It has a proven ingest rate of over 1 terabyte per hour – that’s 1.6 million objects per second! And the largest database in the world, at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, holds more than 900 terabytes of data using Objectivity/DB.

But in the algorithm-heavy applications of science and pharmaceutical research, getting data is only half the mission. Objectivity/DB allows you to process huge quantities of data and map out their complex interrelationships. With a unified view of billions of pieces of data, you recognize patterns and are able to transform small clues into big breakthroughs.

Objectivity/DB is fully scalable and a proven performer. Research clients and partners include Fermilab, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other leaders in their fields.

Objectivity/DB is the choice of organizations experiencing the following difficulties with other DBMSs:

• the data you feed your applications comes in too fast, and you can’t ingest it without getting run over.
• since you store data in a less robust database platform, the benefits of fusing data from different sources are beyond your reach. The result is difficulty navigating or querying against the network of relationships between data.
• inability to understand complex data, particularly when there’s a need to map and measure relationships and flows between knowledge-processing entities.
• inadequate visual and mathematical analysis of relationships

It is a global economy. Financial institutions now stretch across the world and operate in many economies and many cultures. It is essential for these institutions to operate efficiently with seamless data access and interpretations. Objectivity’s database technology permits communication to be distributed and decentralized, expanding to an international network of workplaces through both switched and fixed connections. The client-server architecture of the system management workplace enables global, network-wide administration in real time. Objectivity/DB allows data management to proceed according to the "daylight principle", namely, wherever work is going on: after business closes in Singapore, Frankfurt takes over, and when Frankfurt shuts down, New York takes over, and so on. Changes in system configurations, which arise from new demands can be quickly implemented by LAN coupling between the system manager and the Tradeboard.

In developing financial services applications, you won’t have to worry about the locations of the database server because of Objectivity's capability for transparent distribution of data and its flexible, configurable, data replication option. As the global economy expands, Objectivity works to keep it connected.

Click here to download the Siemens Success Story (PDF)

The Challenge:

No other market reacts as sensitively to small changes as the financial market. No other workplace is as dependent on rapid access and quick reaction to data. So in developing Hicom Trading E, a new generation of trading systems for banks, brokers, and Siemens Private Communications Systems Group needed the most accurate and fastest DBMS available.

Hicom Trading E would be designed for multimedia and the particularly demanding requirements of this rapidly changing market. Stability, rapid connections, distributed architecture, decentralization and scalability were among the top must-have elements of its functionality.

The Objectivity/DB Solution:

With a list of requirements like Siemens’, no other DBMS can compare to Objectivity/DB. By incorporating the leading-edge performance of Objectivity/DB, Hicom Trading E can be expanded to an international network of workplaces by switched and fixed connections.

The client-server architecture enables global, network-wide administration in real time. Decentralized distribution of several system managers allows data management to proceed according to the "daylight principle": in other words, after business closes in Singapore, Frankfurt takes over, and then New York when Frankfurt shuts down

"We selected Objectivity/DB as the object-oriented database management system because it is a product which has proven itself both in the telecommunication industry and within Siemens," says Peter Giese, business unit manager of Hicom Trading Systems.

And according to Thomas Abeln, head of the System Manager Development Group at Siemens Schweiz AG in Zurich, Switzerland, "We conducted intensive benchmarks before reaching a decision. We selected the Objectivity database because it is a very stable system with high-performance and a modern architecture. In developing applications, we didn't have to worry about the locations of the database server because of Objectivity's capability for transparent distribution of data and its flexible, configurable, data replication option. We were therefore able to save about 3 man-months of programming expenses with Objectivity."

Click here to download the Cuna Mutual Group Success Story (PDF)

Objectivity Supports CUNA Mutual's E-Commerce, Cross-Selling Initiatives

Objectivity, Inc., the leader in high performance database engines that manage complex data, real-time applications and very large volumes of data, today announced that CUNA Mutual Group is using Objectivity/DB for its credit union member data base. CUNA Mutual, located in Madison, Wis., provides financial services and insurance to credit unions and their members. The Objectivity-based service provides CUNA Mutual with an improved ability to track customer records and help its sales staff cross-sell financial services products.

Objectivity/DB has enabled CUNA Mutual to build a scalable application that generates a unified, consolidated view for each individual credit union member. With Objectivity/DB, CUNA Mutual provides an integrated set of product offerings tailored for each individual. The system allows CUNA Mutual to access comprehensive credit union member histories as well as provide members with products and services customized for their individual circumstances.

The Objectivity/DB-based application extracts detailed member information from more than 40 disparate systems. These systems run on a variety of platforms, in a variety of environments. The CUNA Mutual application extracts, scrubs and consolidates information and then stores it in Objectivity in a common format. CUNA Mutual's Objectivity/DB is more than a terabyte and contains more than 100 million records and six billion objects.

"To excel in e-commerce, companies must be able to serve customers in new ways and to respond to their needs faster than ever," said Jay Jarrell, president and CEO of Objectivity, Inc. "Objectivity/DB provides CUNA Mutual with the technology not just to compete, but to win in today's highly competitive marketplace."

Click here to download the AWD Success Story (PDF)

AWD Leverages Objectivity’s Distributed Architecture to Enable Remote Access For 100 offices Corporate-wide

As demand grows in Europe for its real-time data management solutions for complex inter-related data, Objectivity, Inc., today announces that AWD Germany is expanding its administrative enterprise system (EVS) built on the Objectivity/DB platform. AWD’s new initiative enables remote access to EVS from around 100 AWD offices throughout Germany. The premier independent financial services provider will replace an old independent stand-alone application therewith. This will lower processing costs and improve data integrity while reducing turn-around times.

Making a Great Thing Even Better

EVS has been running on the Objectivity/DB platform for eight (8) years. As part of a new initiative, the newly created Web interface for the Objectivity/DB based EVS system enables the AWD offices with direct access to the workflow in the Central Service Office and is therefore speeding up the provisioning process. As a result AWD’s end-to-end financial operation will be highly automated. The Objectivity platform gives EVS the necessary flexibility and versatility to identify the right solutions according to criteria such as price, performance and risk.

Migrating from Legacy Databases

In order to lower processing costs and improve data integrity AWD migrated in 1997 two separately maintained legacy databases to a single real-time enterprise management solution based on the Objectivity/DB platform. EVS is the central administrative system for the AWD Central Service Office in Hanover. By enabling remote access AWD will further enhance its recently consolidated e-business environment. New standardized practices at regional offices will significantly increase their information sharing and business efficiency.

Objectivity Platform Scales and Manages Complex Data

IEVS was developed over a period of three years and currently consists of approximately three million lines of source code that is used across multiple platforms, including Windows NT and Sun Solaris. The database schema initially consisted of 460 classes that were needed for modeling their business processes. Currently there are over a half billion objects being administered in EVS.

The core functions of EVS will be implemented in Java and an application will be created for the BEA WebLogic server. Establishing communication between the BEA application and the previous C++ kernel via a Java/C++ layer will enable the continued use of the business logic that is encoded in the database.

The Objectivity platform was selected for EVS because of its consistent support of object-oriented concepts, ranging from C++ all the way to the database. The Objectivity/DB platform enabled AWD to build a highly scalable enterprise application capable of supporting their requirement for real-time management of their complex inter-related financial services data.

Objectivity Saves Time, Resources and Money

"AWD is no different than many other companies today, doing more to control costs and increase business efficiencies," states Walt Beisheim, director, business development for Objectivity. "However AWD realized Objectivity/DB accomplished their business goals for EVS and they are now making improvements in the way they share information."

"AWD characterizes an important group of enterprise customers that we classify as Information Sharers," according to Jay Jarrell president and CEO of Objectivity. The Objectivity platform enables these customers to increase their knowledge by providing real-time access to complicated inter-relationships found between data that is housed in disparate databases."