Analytical in-memory database management systems, will play a key role in transforming supply chains over the next two to five years, according to Gartner’s “Hype Cycle for Supply Chain Management 2012” which outlines 61 SCM technologies at different stages of development.
In-memory database management systems (IMDBMS) store the entire database structure in memory and accesses it without the use of input/output instructions.
Tim Payne, research director at Gartner, said the speed of IMDBMS for analytics had the potential to simplify the data warehouse model and reduce maintenance by removing the need for aggregates, summaries and cubes. This would result in lower administration costs and offer greater agility in meeting analytical requirements.
“Some technologies, such as columnar IMDBMSs, have the opportunity to grow beyond analytical use cases into transactional processing and, as a result, enable new applications that were previously difficult to implement due to latency issues between the transactional and analytical environments. These applications could be transformational — by driving new business opportunities and processes.”
The Gartner report also highlighted two other technologies, Price optimisation and RFID, that could also have a transformational impact over the next five years. And Gartner reckons there are nine technologies that will transform supply chain management with ten years.
