FoundationD is a company that has made a name for itself by specializing in speedy, durable NoSQL databases, but what’s so important about that? Well, not much, at least until Apple acquired the company. This acquisition suggests Apple is looking to upgrade its server-side technologies in preparation for its new online television service as well as for the rapidly growing number of cloud-connected iPhones out there.
This really isn’t Steve Jobs’ Apple anymore. According to TechCrunch, Apple just acquired FoundationDB, a relative newcomer to the NoSQL crowd and the first enterprise software company Apple has ever bought. While the acquisition seems weird on one level, it makes sense on another: talent. Apple has struggled to retain top Web and infrastructure engineering talent. By buying FoundationDB, Apple scored a great set of engineers in an area that it must own to be competitive with other data-hungry companies like Google and Facebook. FoundationDB, with its “NoSQL, YesACID” mantra, has never managed to generate much of a following. While MongoDB, Cassandra, and Redis headline the multi-faceted database popularity ranking kept by DB-Engines, FoundationDB came in a dismal #115 out of 216 on that list.
