Also, unlike NoSQL, SQL also , called ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) that mathematically ensures that each database transaction is handled reliably.

In an interview in May with the IDG News Service, Tomas Ulin, Oracle vice president of MySQL engineering, described a project to bring the NoSQL-like speed of access to SQL-based MySQL.

"We feel very strongly we can combine SQL and NoSQL," he said. "If you have really high-scalability performance requirements for certain parts of your application, you can share the dataset" across both NoSQL and SQL interfaces.

The key to Oracle's effort is the use of Memecached, which Internet-based service providers, , have long used to quickly serve MySQL data to their users. Memcached creates a hash table of commonly accessed database items that is stored in a server's working memory for quick access, by way of an API (application programming interface).

Memcached would provide a natural non-SQL interface for MySQL, Ulin said. Memcached "is heavily used in the Web world. It is something [webmasters] already have installed on their systems, and they know how to use [it]. So we felt that would be a good way to provide NoSQL access," Ulin said.