MongoDB is a better big data solution for scaling large amounts of information than Microsoft SQL, Haitham Rowley, group IT director for video games publisher Square Enix has told Computing.
Square Enix collects and analyses data from games such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Hitman to enable the developers to better understand how users play their titles. But while Microsoft SQL is useful to Square Enix as a relational database - and other Microsoft products are used across the publisher's IT estate - Rowley believes MongoDB is better suited to the games-related jobs required.
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"From a scaling perspective it's been an absolutely no-brainer for our engineers," Rowley told Computing on the subject of MongoDB.
"I've not had to sit in meetings with them explaining to me how Microsoft SQL will not scale at the speed they need it to from a time perspective, but also scale in the way that it needs to be able to crunch data, it's just not capable of doing it. So from a SQL point of view that's not one of our discussions because it just happens," he said.
And while he appreciates Microsoft SQL as a product, Rowley said that for what Square Enix requires, it's just not the right tool to use.
"We are Microsoft across the board for the corporate environment and Microsoft SQL is a great product, as a relational database, it's great. And I'm not saying you shouldn't use relational databases above Mongo or a NoSQL unstructured type of data, because you absolutely should," he said.
"But when you're collecting a fat pipe of data very quickly, you're going to need to gauge how quick you need to scale," Rowley added.
Last month, it was revealed that MongoDB distributor 10gen is collaborating with IBM to create a new database development standard.
