Aerospike, the database solutions provider whose technology has powered AppNexus, BlueKai and eXelate, will open source its technology. The company also revealed Tuesday that it raised $20 million in Series C funding, which Aerospike will use to help finance the open source process and develop tools that will help clients scale their applications.
“We are open sourcing our technology so that enterprises across the board can have access to our technology,” said Aerospike CMO Monica Pal. “I actually believe that what the ad tech ecosystem has done formed the foundation for how all enterprises have to reach their customers across the Internet.” Open sourcing its technology potentially strengthens Aerospike’s value proposition over the in-house databases fielded by Facebook, Amazon and Google.
“[Aerospike’s technology is] the underlying repository that clients use to store all their user level information,” explained Elad Efraim, eXelate CTO. “Imagine a scenario surrounding real time modeling. What the client would need is an algorithm that they can use to store users, and a means to look into the attributes that qualify that user into specific targeting segments.”
For instance, an insurance company wanting to build lookalike models for prospects most likely to ask for a quote could qualify and store real-time data entering an advertising platform. Aerospike is designed to allow clients quick access to that information so they can make immediate advertising decisions. Its speed derives from Aerospike’s in-memory database, meaning large data sets are immediately accessible and don’t have to be transferred from place to place.
Pal points out that Aerospike also operates with flash memory, which she claims offers speeds close to in-memory processing, but at a lower price point.
“Each time the client gets a user, they have a matter of milliseconds to make a decision,” Efraim said. “Clients would look to direct those users to a specific platform, and leverage the user data to launch specific campaigns.”
Aerospike’s differentiator is its low latency, Pal explained. This is especially crucial where advertising efficiency depends on speed.
“We process data very fast, and that performance allows for more accurate personalization,” she said. “Where personalization is more relevant, that’s where you see profits.”
Aerospike client Neustar uses Aerospike’s database to handle and access large amounts of data for its PlatformOne solution. PlatformOne combines Neustar’s offline data with the data-management platform (DMP) it acquired via Aggregate Knowledge.
“We have endless amounts of data to work with within the PlatformOne environment,” Neustar’s director of product management and marketing services Ian Campbell. “The ad tech space evolves faster than third-party data management technology, and customers need to be able to work with the data both from an ad targeting perspective and from a benchmark perspective.”
Aerospike, Campbell said, adds capacity at a reasonable price, which lets Neustar better handle client data requirements. Handling large amounts of data without breaking the bank is becoming a greater imperative for marketers and their vendors, as more customer information becomes available.
Edit: An earlier version of this article listed the funding at $19.3 million. It was actually $20 million.
