A navigation software company produces a route-finding program for use on PCs, PDAs, and cell phones. It stores information on road segments, points of interest, postal codes, and the like. A decade or so ago, when they first wrote the application, they developed their own embedded database to manage this information.

Problems :

Since they're experts in mapping and route-finding, not data management, their database’s performance is considerably slower than competitors'. Their database code is difficult to maintain - only one developer really understands it, and he has other responsibilities. They do practically no data compression, so they can fit less data than they'd like on a DVD, or PDAs and cell phones. Although the data don't change much, they do change, and their database offers no possibility of incremental update.

Solutions :

We are experts in data management, and our performance is superior. We have a very simple, clear API, so the surrounding code can be understandable and easy to maintain. Our data store compresses automatically; this compression can be enhanced for special kinds of data through plug-ins. We optimize for databases that don't change much, but we handle changes, especially additions, reasonably efficiently.