Polyhedra (software)

Polyhedra is a distributed, fault-tolerant data management system originally developed by Hewlett-Packard. It is designed for applications requiring high availability, low latency, and ACID properties. Polyhedra utilizes a shared-nothing architecture where each node in the cluster has its own memory and disk storage.

Key Features:

• Distributed Transaction Management: Polyhedra supports distributed transactions across multiple nodes, ensuring data consistency even in the presence of failures. It implements a two-phase commit protocol.

• In-Memory Data Grid: While it can persist data to disk, Polyhedra is optimized for in-memory operation, providing extremely fast data access for read-intensive workloads.

• Fault Tolerance: Polyhedra is designed to tolerate node failures without data loss or service interruption. Data is typically replicated across multiple nodes to ensure availability. Automatic failover mechanisms are in place to switch to backup nodes in case of a primary node failure.

• ACID Properties: The system guarantees atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability (ACID) for all transactions.

• SQL Support: Polyhedra supports a subset of the SQL standard, allowing users to interact with the data using familiar query languages.

• Data Replication: Polyhedra offers various data replication strategies, including synchronous and asynchronous replication, to balance performance and data consistency requirements.

• Scalability: The system is designed to scale horizontally by adding more nodes to the cluster, increasing both storage capacity and processing power.

Use Cases:

Polyhedra is suitable for a range of applications, including:

• Telecom Infrastructure: Managing subscriber data, call routing information, and network configuration.

• Financial Services: High-frequency trading, real-time risk management, and fraud detection.

• Industrial Automation: Controlling and monitoring industrial processes, managing sensor data, and enabling real-time analytics.

• Gaming: Supporting massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) with real-time data updates and low latency requirements.

Current Status:

The original Polyhedra database was acquired by ActivePivot in 2017. Although the core concepts remain relevant in the field of distributed data management, the specific product's development and availability may vary depending on the current state of ActivePivot's offerings. It is crucial to investigate the availability and support options before considering it for new projects.