Gemstone Database Management System

Infobox programming language
name = GemStone Database Management System
paradigm = Application framework
year = 1991
typing =
designer =
implementations =
dialects =
influenced_by = Smalltalk,Object-oriented programming
influenced = J2EE

GemStone is a proprietary application framework that was first available for Smalltalk as an object database.

GemStone Systems was founded in 1982 as Servio Logic, and then became GemStone Systems, Inc in 1995. GemStone developed its first prototype in 1982, and shipped its first product in 1986.

GemStone's owners pioneered implementing distributed computing in business systemsFact|date=October 2007. Many information system features now associated with J2EE were implemented earlier in GemStone.

Three of the original co-founding engineers, Bob Bretl, Allen Otis and Monty Williams, have been with the company since its inception.

GemStone and VisualWave were an early web application server platform (VisualWave and VisualWorks are now owned by Cincom.)

GemStone played an important sponsorship role in the Smalltalk Industry Council at the time when IBM was backing VisualAge Smalltalk (VA is now at [http://www.instantiations.com Instantiations] ).

After a major transition, GemStone for Smalltalk continues as "GemStone/S" and various C++ and Java products for scalable, multi-tier distributed systems. GemStone Systems, Inc. now develops and markets GemFire, which is notable for CEP (complex event processing), Event Stream Processing, data virtualization and distributed caching.

Just as Smalltalk continues to be a competitive advantage in many major financial institutions such as JP Morgan [ [http://www.lshift.net/blog/2006/10/24/smalltalk-uk-meetings-20-21-oct LShift Ltd. » Smalltalk UK meetings, 20-21 Oct ] ] although not often mentioned in print, GemStone systems continue as mission-critical applications [ [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.smalltalk/msg/9560a50c14522f13 Slovenian national gas operator has its billing system running on Smalltalk for 10 years] ] even though many computing industry business publications focus attention on Java or C# for Microsoft .NET for new development. GemStone frameworks remain of interest for web services and service-oriented architectures.

A recent revival of interest in Smalltalk has occurred as a result of its use to successfully generate Javascript for top-rated e-commerce web pages or in web application frameworks such as the Seaside web framework, but systems based on object databases are not as common as those based on ORM or Object-relational mapping frameworks such as TopLink or new-comer Hibernate. In the area of web application frameworks, JBoss and BEA Weblogic are somewhat analogous to GemStone.

The engineering group resides in Beaverton, Oregon.

Company Milestones

* March 1982 - Servio Logic is founded
* August 1982 - First Software Prototype
* October 1986 - Shipped GemStone/S™ 1.0, Smalltalk application server, and first sale
* October 1992 - Servio dropped "Logic" to become Servio Corporation
* December 1992 - GemStone/S 3.0 was released
* June 1995 - Servio Corporation changed its name to GemStone Systems
* July 1997 - GemStone ships GemStone/J™, Java application server
* August 2000 - GemStone Systems, Inc. is acquired by Brokat Technologies
* April 2000 - GemStone ships GemStone Facets™ 1.0, object database
* August 2001 - Original investor, Sgroup Holdings, buys back the company
* March 2002 - GemStone ships GemStone/S 6.0
* March 2002 - GemStone Systems announces zero-latency software product called GemFire™
* March 2005 - GemStone ships GemStone/64 1.0 (first 64 bit version)
* March 2006 - GemStone ships GemStone/64 2.0

External links

* [http://www.gemstone.com GemStone] home page.
* [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=125254&dl=ACM&coll=&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618 ACM Digital Library] link to PDF on GemStone.
* [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/databases/GemStone-FAQ/ FAQ] for GemStone.

References

* [http://www.facetsodb.com/web/documentation/vmHeritage.html Facets] from GemStone and Java with some history on the over-pricing of Smalltalk and its continued use.
* [http://www.intel.com/business/bss/industry/finance/isn_dualcorexeon_sb.pdf Intel] business PDF on GemStone GemFire for financial systems.
* [http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/130000/125254/p64-butterworth.pdf?key1=125254&key2=9784125611&coll=&dl=ACM&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618 ACM] PDF on GemStone.
* [http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=110029 XFire] or GemFire Enterprise Data Fabric on IBM BladeCenter Platform.
* [http://www.byte.com/art/9609/sec3/art16.htm Byte] on Visual Wave and GemStone as an Internet Application Server.
* [http://www.infoworld.com/articles/pl/xml/02/06/17/020617pleclipse.html Eclipse] as the current dominant IDE and its history as relates to Smalltalk environments.
* [http://www.gemstone.com/news/pr-100505.php GemStone] recent reference to STIC (Smalltalk Industry Council).
* [http://www.cincom.com/pdf/EM040819-1-A4.pdf JP Morgan] use of Smalltalk.
* [http://www.dmreview.com/article_sub.cfm?articleId=1020856 data virtualization] article.
* [http://workshop99.ircache.net/Papers/rodriguez-abstract.html distributed caching] article.

See also

* [http://www.gigaspaces.com Transaction Processing] Gigaspaces home page.
* [http://java.sun.com/javaee/index.jsp Sun] 's J2EE pages.
* [http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/ias/toplink/index.html TopLink] (now an Oracle product.)
* [http://www.hibernate.org hibernate] home page.
* [http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/09/28/40OPstrategic_1.html SOA] introduction.
*Web service
*Service-oriented architecture