DTCC Interview | GBase Drives Database Innovation in the Financial Industry

Recently, during the 12th China Database Technology Conference (DTCC 2021), Zhang Daoshan, Director of the GBase 8s Product Department at General Data Technology, was invited to participate in a special interview centered on his presentation "Technical Practices of GBase 8s in the Financial Industry."

Moderator: Why did you choose the topic "Technical Practices of GBase 8s in the Financial Industry" for your presentation?

Zhang Daoshan: The database industry is thriving in the context of IT application innovation. GBase has always focused on high-end, transaction-oriented database systems, and the financial sector falls into this category. Due to its cautious approach to technology selection, there are relatively few use cases of domestic databases in finance, especially in core systems. Our goal with this topic is to demonstrate that Chinese databases are fully capable of supporting core financial systems: to boost confidence in Chinese database vendors and provide the financial industry with another viable option.

Moderator: What are the differences in data requirements between core and general business systems in the financial industry?

Zhang Daoshan: The main requirements for databases in finance are: 1. Strong data consistency is a fundamental requirement, and GBase 8s delivers real-time strong consistency. 2. Maintain high performance under strong consistency—core financial transactions involve high volumes and represent typical OLTP scenarios that demand superior performance. 3. Database security and reliability: GBase 8s’s architecture ensures high reliability to support core financial operations, and it offers multiple high-availability capabilities to guarantee continuous service delivery.

Moderator: What gaps exist between Chinese databases and mainstream international databases?

Zhang Daoshan: With global integration and similar access to advanced information, the technological gap is minimal. Centralized database technology has been developed to near perfection, so the only remaining gap between domestic and international databases lies in the ecosystem. In terms of supporting business operations, Chinese databases are already fully capable.

Moderator: What changes has 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 been focusing more on adapting to the domestic IT substitution trend: 1. Enhancing competitiveness against mainstream domestic databases by improving compatibility and reducing additional costs; 2. Adapting to the changing surrounding ecosystem that Chinese databases depend on—through extensive adaptation and building a domestic ecosystem.

Moderator: What are the future plans for GBase database?

Zhang Daoshan: 1. Based on the application scenarios and characteristics of transaction-oriented databases, our current direction is to develop clustering capabilities for transactional databases. 2. We will continue to enhance the advantages of GBase for core transaction systems, investing more to maintain its reliability and availability. 3. We are keeping a close eye on emerging technologies that may reshape database paradigms and are building up relevant technical reserves.

Moderator: What’s your view on distributed databases?

Zhang Daoshan: Theoretically, there is no rigid standard for customers when choosing. The trend toward distributed databases is undeniable, but centralized systems still have irreplaceable use cases. For example, in core banking transaction systems where strong transaction consistency is critical, a centralized database is actually a better choice.

Moderator: Do you see the trend for data architecture moving toward convergence or specialization?

Zhang Daoshan: From the data architecture perspective, convergence is inevitable. As data usage deepens and data value is mined more extensively, different database products are used in different scenarios, so the overall data architecture is becoming converged. However, from the usage standpoint, databases are becoming more specialized, with different products serving different scenarios.

Moderator: What stage do you think Chinese databases have reached in their development?

Zhang Daoshan: Overall, Chinese databases have now reached a stage where we have what others have, and some are even moving to the stage of being better than the rest.

Moderator: How would you rate the user experience of Chinese databases today?

Zhang Daoshan: They are usable. Whether they are truly user-friendly depends not only on the database’s own capabilities but also on the ecosystem. In recent years, thanks to favorable policies, databases have advanced by leaps and bounds. Both usability and user-friendliness will continue to improve.

Moderator: How far is it until Chinese databases reach true maturity?

Zhang Daoshan: Once the domestic ecosystem is fully developed, they will become truly user-friendly. With continued adoption, we can expect true maturity in 3 to 5 years.

Moderator: Do you believe Chinese databases can shoulder the demands of the high-end market?

Zhang Daoshan: Absolutely. There are over 150 database products in China with broad coverage. Core applications in critical industries are already starting to adopt domestic databases. Database vendors will become more specialized in the future, and the situation will only get better.

Moderator: Where do you see the current opportunities for Chinese databases?

Zhang Daoshan: From a pure market perspective, opportunities may not be that large, but with supportive national policies guiding the way, this is a huge opportunity for Chinese databases. Building the ecosystem, however, remains a major challenge.

Moderator: What are your thoughts on the DTCC conference?

Zhang Daoshan: Although this is my first time attending DTCC in person, I have been following and collecting materials from past conferences. DTCC is like a flagship event for the development of Chinese databases. Its continued organization provides a platform for vendors and fosters collaboration and mutual learning among all database companies.