MarkLogic has launched version 8 of its NoSQL database for enterprises with a new ‘bitemporal’ feature aimed at meeting strict corporate compliance criteria.

MarkLogic 8 now allows businesses to minimize risk by giving them a historical view of data, which it claims could alleviate any disputes over integrity and versions of events.

Developers can now get full native support for the increasingly popular JSON data format. A new feature allows users to run JavaScript code near the data in order to improve the power and efficiency of the system.

Give me the facts!

A new Inference semantics feature aims to help users find new facts and relationships within data with queries across billions of documents. Other fine-tuning of the database sees improvements in incremental backup, a more robust management REST application programming interface (API), more flexible replication and a simpler set up procedure.

MarkLogic-powered applications are to be offered in the cloud with a range of free giveaways including a 12-month developer license, 3-node production cluster on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for 12 months, training, support in MarkLogic and AWS and access to its technical resources.

Relational databases can’t match the pace of change in data and meanwhile other NoSQL databases lack the necessary enterprise features of high availability, security and disaster recovery, claimed Joe Pasqua, MarkLogic’s senior VP of product strategy. “We’ve engineered enterprise functionality into the product from day one to give customers the features they need to analyze and operationalise their big data,” said Pasqua.

One partner with early access to the product was impressed by early testing of the bitemporal feature. “It [is] a new opportunity for our customers to perform additional analytics as well as enabling much richer compliance management,” said Paolo Pelizzoli, global head of architecture for MarkLogic reseller Broadridge. Tiered storage, full semantic support and server-side java script will prove radical changes, he said.