The author argues that Real-Time Databases (RDBs) should not be the default architecture in kdb+ systems, suggesting that in-memory storage is often unnecessary given modern columnar optimizations like memory mapping. While acknowledging RDBs offer speed, the piece advocates for evaluating whether Historical Databases (HDBs) with memory-mapped disk files can suffice for many workloads.
Background
kdb+ is a high-performance column-oriented database management system widely used in financial services for time-series data analysis. Traditional kdb+ architectures often separate real-time ingestion (RDB) from historical storage (HDB), but recent developments emphasize unified memory-mapped access patterns.
- Source
- Lobsters
- Published
- Jul 21, 2026 at 03:52 AM
- Score
- 6.0 / 10