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Apple Acquires 'Rock-Solid High-Performance' Database Company FoundationDB

Tuesday March 24, 2015 3:28 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple has acquired database company FoundationDB, reports TechCrunch. FoundationDB is a company that "develops scalable and fault tolerant databases that support multiple data models." A notice on the company's site says that it has ceased to offer downloads after deciding to "evolve [the] company mission."

According to TechCrunch, FoundationDB may have been an attractive purchase for Apple due to its ability to handle ACID-compliant transactions quickly and its strong scalability. A company blog post suggested it could achieve 54 billion writes per hour at a cost-per-write of 3 nanodollars.

foundationdbacquisition
FoundationDB's attractiveness came in the speed at which it handled ACID-compliant transactions and coupled that with strong scalability. FoundationDB hosted a booth at TechCrunch Disrupt 2012, where we first wrote about its approach to a modern NoSQL database and its 'NoSQL, YesACID' motto. FoundationDB's latest engine, which was covered by TC Columnist Jon Evans late last year, scaled up 14.4 million random writes per second.
TechCrunch describes FoundationDB as a "fast, affordable and durable database company" that may have been acquired to boost Apple's server-side technologies for the App Store, iTunes Connect, iTunes in the Cloud, or another service.

Apple confirmed the acquisition with the standard statement that it gives on purchases: "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."

Tags: Apple acquisition, FoundationDB
[ 88 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

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Supacon
52 months ago
Shut up and take my... nanodollars!
Rating: 32 Votes
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Seppentoni
52 months ago
What the heck are nano dollars?
Rating: 18 Votes
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mrgraff
52 months ago

What the heck are nano dollars?


1 nano dollar = 100 nano cents :D
Rating: 17 Votes
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chucker23n1
52 months ago

1 nano dollar = 100 nano cents :D


A hundred billion nano dollars = almost an iPod nano!
Rating: 10 Votes
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demodave
52 months ago

Because SockRolid is better.


You've been waiting for that moment, right? ;)
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
D.T.
52 months ago

Can someone tell me what this article said in English? Like explain it like I'm 5 years old. Thanks.


Called in a subject matter expert for you:




"Me hate when no have cookie, but hate even more when Apple lose Cookie Monster's data!"
Rating: 7 Votes
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SockRolid
52 months ago

Dear former customers of Rock-Solid…
Your trust in our Rock-Solid products is no longer rock-solid, literally.
Sorry to shatter your plans, but we ceased operations.
We have been assimilated.
:apple:


Because SockRolid is better.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
Zachari
52 months ago

I have no idea either.

This article flunks Journalism 101. The writer tosses about arcane industry jargon and assumes the readers will understand every word of it.

C'mon, Arn. Shouldn't we expect better from Macrumors scribes? Or is it because you paying them nano-peanuts?


What a ridiculous sentiment. You come to a Tech Journal, don't recognize a few words and discredit it as journalism?

That would be like going to the Business Section of the New York Times and not understanding business buzz words like collaborative consumption or caveat emptor and writing it off.

Don't make me laugh.
Rating: 6 Votes
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elmateo487
52 months ago

10^−9 ... very very very very small.


Wow that's a small dollar. How am I going to fold it into my money clip.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
MacVista
52 months ago
Dear former customers of Rock-Solid…
Your trust in our Rock-Solid products is no longer rock-solid, literally.
Sorry to shatter your plans, but we ceased operations.
We have been assimilated.
:apple:
Rating: 5 Votes

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