Embedded Databases explained

Embedded databases explained

Accelerated by the Corona pandemic, exploding numbers of connected devices and data volumes drive a shift towards decentralized Edge Computing and with it the need for embedded database management systems continues to grow rapidly. Analysts expect the Embedded Database market to grow by 60% annually (CAGR) from 2022-2029.  

What is an Embedded Database?

What is a database vs. a DBMS?

A “database” is an organized collection of (structured or unstructured) data, typically stored electronically in a computer system. The most common database operations are Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD). “Database Management System” (or DBMS) refers to the piece of software for storing and managing that data. However, often the term “database” is also used loosely to refer to a DBMS, and you will find most DBMS only use the term database in their name and communication.

What does “embedded” mean in the database world?

The term “embedded” can mean two different things when used in the context of databases:

  1. Database for embedded systems” is a database specifically designed to be used in embedded systems. Embedded systems are systems consisting of a deeply integrated hardware / software combination, e.g. electronic control units (ECUs), IoT devices. A database for such systems must have
    • a small footprint and
    • be optimised to run on highly restricted hardware
    • thrifty with resource-use, e.g. CPU, Memory, Battery.
  2. Embedded database”: this means that the database is deeply integrated in the software / application. Also referred to as an “embeddable database”,  “embedded database management system” or “embedded DBMS (Database Management System)”. 
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Objectbox database for Java / Kotlin 3.0

ObjectBox Android database for Java / Kotlin 3.0 + performance benchmarks

ObjectBox – the high performance Android database for Java / Kotlin – goes 3.0 ❤️ and apart from features. the dev team is also sharing CRUD performance benchmarks including MongoDB Realm and SQLite with Room. ObjectBox Database has been used by over 800,000 developers since the 1.0 release for Android and apart from Java / Kotlin for Android, the ObjectBox DB also has C/C++, Go, Flutter/Dart, Swift bindings now and a superfast Data Sync.

What is ObjectBox?

ObjectBox is a NoSQL ACID-compliant object database and an alternative to SQLite and Room. ObjectBox is optimized for fast object persistence on restricted devices, typically “embedded devices”, sometimes called “edge devices” like e.g. smartphones, IoT gateways, PoS systems, or Controlling Units. Because most applications today include any number of decentralized connected devices, ObjectBox also provides fast and easy access to decentralized edge data through an out-of-the-box Data Sync solution (Early Access).

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Flutter Databases Compared

What is the best Flutter Database?

Flutter Database options are still limited. We compare the available alternatives, and share performance benchmarks. 

How to persist data in Flutter / Dart?

The database market is a long-established saturated market and still experiencing double-digit growth. Most of that growth stems from NoSQL databases and newer database technologies, like time-series databases or graph databases. As Computing is shifting towards Decentralized Computing on the Edge, local databases that support decentralized data flows on Mobile, IoT, and other Embedded Devices come into focus. Some come from the Flutter data persistence world, and we will take a look at them in a second.

databases-time-history

Before we dive into the Flutter database options and compare them, we’re quickly carifying the term to make sure we share a common ground. Don’t worry, we’ll not get theoretical, but simply make sure we share a common language.

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ObjectBox is a Techstars’17 company

We just joined Techstars London with our Mobile Database ObjectBox. We’re really happy to be part of Techstars and to have the opportunity to learn so much. If you’re interested in learning more about that, we will post regular updates on our Techstars’ journey on our ObjectBox Blog. We already posted on our first days at Techstars and how we got into Techstars. Thanks to everyone who helped us on our journey so far, but especially our developer community on github. We could never have done any of our projects without you and we appreciate your feedback and support a lot! Please feel free to ping us with any questions you may have.

ObjectBox 0.9.10 – getting closer to 1.0

Do you know our new super fast mobile database ObjectBox yet? With versions 0.9.9 and the just released 0.9.10, ObjectBox made great progress to stabilize features for the 1.0 release. With an increasing number of apps using ObjectBox, we were able to spot and fix some less obvious issues. We believe that ObjectBox 0.9.10 is the most stable release ever. If you did not dare to check out the beta version yet: now is a good time to have a closer look.

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ObjectBox Documentation Update

We updated ObjectBox’ documentation to account for the growing interest and more specific questions asked in the issue tracker. We published several updates and new documentation resources:

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