Distributed SQL Databases are a powerful new data management technology that addresses modern applications’ need for scalability, availability, geographic distribution, and low response time – with the power of SQL and strong consistency.

However, distributed databases bring their own challenges. For example, the familiar trade-offs between consistency, high availability, and partition tolerance still exist. Remote data access will still incur speed-of-light network delays.

This talk will describe the inner workings of distributed databases and how to design applications to best exploit their power. Using Oracle and other distributed databases as examples, we will explore the capabilities and unique application challenges posed by distributed databases. This talk will address design patterns that empower applications to handle network latency and consistency in the presence of real-world networks that can and do fail.