Laoyu Talks (Episode 7) | On Technology Iteration and Differentiated Advantages of Homegrown Databases

Introduction

Recently, the well-known self-media "Laoyu Notes" interviewed Cui Zhiwei, General Manager of the GBase 8s Product Division at General Data Technology. The two sides engaged in an in-depth discussion on GBase 8s's technology iteration, compatibility enhancement roadmap, and differentiated positioning. They highlighted that the core differentiator of GBase 8s lies in its unique ecosystem, breakthroughs in core banking scenarios, and the maturity, stability, and near-zero maintenance advantages in industrial settings.

Laoyu: What will be the main focus areas for GBase 8s's future technology iterations? For example, the current hot topic of AI, or continuing to deepen compatibility?

Cui Zhiwei from GBase 8s: First, compatibility is a long-term task for GBase 8s, because the reference systems and their ecosystems are continuously upgrading. Only when our own ecosystem becomes strong enough and we have a sufficient number of partners can we form an independent ecosystem—this cannot be achieved overnight.

Secondly, moving to the cloud is not urgent right now. The priority is to build a robust ecosystem first; once the ecosystem matures, a cloud migration will lead to better development. For the time being, we just need to keep pace with the industry.

Additionally, we plan to strengthen in-memory capabilities. Although GBase 8s is a standard TP (transaction processing) product, many scenarios require mixed TP+AP (analytical processing) workloads—for example, numerous banking business scenarios. This is also a key reason why products like Oracle and DB2 are widely adopted in banks. Once the ecosystem is mature, we will also expand into solutions such as database appliances. We have already delivered a heavy-duty appliance comparable to Oracle Exadata, and some central government department clients have been running dozens of shared-storage cluster multi-instance configurations stably for six years.

As for AI, we have already initiated relevant plans. The most practical application at present is intelligent operations (AIOps), which can streamline the operational work and ensure system stability—that would be great. We will proceed at our own pace going forward, not blindly following the hype.

Laoyu: Some users perceive compatibility as "following the leader." Why did GBase 8s choose to be compatible with Oracle instead of starting from scratch?

Cui Zhiwei from GBase 8s: The core issue is the ecosystem. At the SQL level, besides standard syntax and basic data types, the extended data types vary greatly in length and range across different vendors. Moreover, there is no unified standard for stored procedures—every vendor implements them differently. More importantly, the reference systems we track are constantly evolving, introducing new syntax and new features that we need to keep up with.

In fact, this is a matter of maturity and user base. When our user base is large enough and we have enough partners, we will naturally develop our own syntax ecosystem. At this stage, compatibility is a necessary step in building that ecosystem.

Laoyu: If a team starts using GBase 8s now, is the learning curve steep? Some users have reported that a lack of technical support prevents them from getting started.

Cui Zhiwei from GBase 8s: We are quite open in this regard, with comprehensive technical support and learning resources. First, we operate dedicated GBase forums and communities where users can access relevant knowledge resources, and we have clear response-time requirements for community inquiries. Second, installation media not involving commercial issues, complementary free tools, as well as RPM packages, Docker images, etc., are all available for download from our official website. The website also organizes project experiences, practical case studies, and basic introductory materials to help new users get started quickly.

Now more and more users are downloading new versions from the website and adapting them on their own. For example, an application developer directly downloads the latest version from the website, completes the adaptation, and later only needs to switch to the corresponding version for deployment. This also shows that the ecosystem is gradually improving.

Laoyu: Compared with homegrown databases like OceanBase, Dameng, and GoldenDB, how does GBase 8s differentiate itself?

Cui Zhiwei from GBase 8s: First, we have a unique ecosystem with a clear roadmap. In addition to the banking-related scenarios we already cover, we have been breaking into core banking accounting systems over the past two years, and you will see results shortly. Second, our application scenarios are broader. They are not limited to cities but also extend to industrial environments like reservoirs, hydropower stations, border and frontier defense—both manned and unmanned.

The core characteristic of GBase 8s is its maturity and stability—it's more like an industrial standard component. Once deployed, it runs stably with virtually no maintenance required. This is a key differentiator from other homegrown databases.