DTCC Interview: GBase Delivers a Superior Choice for Financial Databases

Recently, during the 12th China Database Technology Conference (DTCC 2021), Zhang Daoshan, Director of the GBase 8s Product Department at General Data Technology Co., Ltd., was invited for an exclusive interview on 'GBase 8s Technical Practices in the Financial Industry.'

Host: Why did you choose the topic 'GBase 8s Technical Practices in the Financial Industry'?

Zhang Daoshan: The database industry is booming amid China's IT application innovation drive. GBase has always been dedicated to high-end, transaction-oriented database systems. The financial industry, which requires this type of database, is relatively cautious in selection. As a result, there are few application cases in finance, and even fewer in core systems. Our talk on this topic aims to demonstrate that domestic databases can support the core systems of the financial industry: to encourage domestic database vendors and provide the financial industry with an additional database choice.

Host: How do the data requirements differ between core and general business in the financial industry?

Zhang Daoshan: The financial industry's database requirements are mainly: 1. Strong data consistency is a fundamental requirement. GBase 8s can achieve real-time strong consistency. 2. Maintaining performance advantages while ensuring strong consistency. Core financial transactions involve high volume and are typical OLTP scenarios, demanding high performance. 3. Database security and reliability: The architecture of GBase 8s itself ensures high reliability, enabling it to support core financial business; it also supports various high-availability capabilities to guarantee business service continuity.

Host: What are the gaps between domestic databases and international mainstream databases?

Zhang Daoshan: With global integration, access to high-end information is essentially uniform, so there is not much technological difference. Centralized databases have basically reached their technical limits. The gap between domestic and international databases now lies only in the ecosystem. In terms of business capabilities, domestic databases are fully capable of supporting needs.

Host: What changes has the GBase database undergone since the pandemic?

Zhang Daoshan: GBase 8s has already developed well in terms of technical architecture and application scenarios. Over the past year or so, we have focused more on adapting to the drive for domestic substitution: 1. Enhancing compatibility with mainstream domestic databases to strengthen competitiveness and reduce additional costs; 2. The surrounding environment on which domestic databases depend is also changing, with extensive adaptation efforts to build a domestic ecosystem.

Host: What are the future plans for the GBase database?

Zhang Daoshan: 1. Based on the application scenarios and characteristics of transactional databases, clustering for transactional databases is our current direction; 2. While maintaining our core system advantages for transaction-oriented scenarios, we will increase investment to sustain GBase's reliability and availability; 3. New technologies may reshape database forms, so we are closely monitoring them and building relevant technical reserves.

Host: What are your thoughts on distributed databases?

Zhang Daoshan: Theoretically, there is no absolute standard for customer selection. The trend toward distributed databases is undeniable, but centralized databases still have irreplaceable scenarios. For example, in a bank's core transaction system, where strong transactional consistency is critical, a centralized approach is actually a better choice.

Host: Do you see the trend in data architecture moving toward convergence or segmentation?

Zhang Daoshan: From the data architecture perspective, it must be convergence. Data usage is deepening, and data value mining is profound. Different application scenarios require different database products, so data architecture is converging. In terms of database usage, it is segmenting, as different products are suited to different scenarios.

Host: At what stage of development do you think domestic databases are currently?

Zhang Daoshan: Overall, domestic databases are now at a 'me-too' stage. Some have even reached a 'better-than' stage.

Host: How would you assess the current user experience of domestic databases?

Zhang Daoshan: They are usable. Whether they are pleasant to use depends not only on their own capabilities but also on the ecosystem. In recent years, policy incentives have driven rapid progress, and both usability and user experience will continue to improve.

Host: How far are domestic databases from true maturity?

Zhang Daoshan: Once the domestic ecosystem is fully developed, they will be genuinely pleasant to use. If we persist in using them, we can expect true maturity in 3 to 5 years.

Host: Do you think domestic databases can shoulder the heavy responsibility of the high-end market?

Zhang Daoshan: Absolutely. With over 150 types of databases and extensive distribution in our country, core applications in critical industries are already starting to employ domestic databases. In the future, database vendors will become more specialized, and the situation will only get better.

Host: Where do you see the current opportunities for domestic databases?

Zhang Daoshan: From a purely market perspective, the opportunities may not seem huge. But with national policy guidance, this is a major opportunity for domestic database development. Ecosystem building is a substantial challenge.

Host: What is your view on the DTCC conference?

Zhang Daoshan: Although this is my first time attending DTCC in person, I have been collecting relevant materials and keeping up with information in previous years. DTCC is like a banner event for the development of domestic databases. The consistent hosting of this domestic database technology conference provides a platform for vendors, promoting cooperation and mutual learning among all database vendors.