Terracotta Enhances Java Cache Platform

With the rise of distributed cache servers, IT organizations are relying less on databases to run transactions. Instead, the transactions are being processed in memory by the distributed cache server, while the data is then stored in a database serving as the system of record.

According to Terracotta CEO Amit Pandey, many IT organizations are opting for lower-cost databases to serve as the system of record, thereby saving on database licensing fees while simultaneously improving the performance of their applications. By making use of a distributed cache server, IT organizations can essentially process data as close to the application as possible without having to introduce any overhead created by accessing disks. That capability, he added, will be critical as IT organizations begin to think about deploying Java applications in either private or public cloud computing scenarios.

eHcache is an open source distributed cache server for Java applications. But Pandey said the company plans to add support for other languages such as Perl before the end of the year. In most instances, customers are using Ehcache in conjunction with Hibernate, a shared memory server developed by Terracotta, said Pandey.

In addition, Pandey said it won’t be too long before Ehcache is able to handle up to 1 TB of data in cache, which for many IT organizations means that the entire application can just run in memory.

Pandey said that over 50,000 existing users have already downloaded the latest version of Ehache, with over 100 IT organizations contracting Terracotta for enterprise support.