In-Memory Database vs. In-Memory Data Grid

If you are developing a green-field, brand new system or application the choice is pretty clear in favor of In-Memory Data Grids. You get the best of the two worlds: you get to work with the existing databases in your organization where necessary, and enjoy tremendous performance and scalability benefits of In-Memory Data Grids – both of which are highly integrated.

If you are, however, modernizing your existing enterprise system or application the choice comes down to this:

You will want to use an In-Memory Database if the following applies to you:

• You can replace or upgrade your existing disk-based RDBMS
• You cannot make changes to your applications
• You care about speed, but don’t care as much about scalability

In other words – you boost your application’s speed by replacing or upgrading RDBMS without significantly touching the application itself.

On the other hand, you want to use an In-Memory Data Grid if the following applies to you:

• You cannot replace your existing disk-based RDBMS
• You can make changes to (the data access subsystem of) your application
• You care about speed and especially about scalability, and don’t want to trade one for the other

With an In-Memory Data Grid you can boost your application’s speed and provide massive scale by tweaking the application, but without making changes to your existing database.