computer science

Kinetica (software)

Kinetica (software) is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kinetica (software) rather than just read about it. In short: Kinetica is a distributed, memory-first OLAP database developed by Kinetica DB, Inc. Kinetica is designed to use GPUs and modern vector processors to improve performance on complex queries across large volumes of real-time data.

Key takeaways

Kinetica (software) belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kinetica (software) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kinetica (software) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kinetica is a distributed, memory-first OLAP database developed by Kinetica DB, Inc. Kinetica is designed to use GPUs and modern vector processors to improve performance on complex queries across large volumes of real-time data. Kinetica is well suited for analytics on streaming geospatial and temporal data.

Background In 2009, Amit Vij and Nima Neghaban founded GIS Federal, a developer of software they called GPUdb. The GIS stood for Global Intelligence Solutions. GPUdb was initially marketed for US military and intelligence applications, at Fort Belvoir for INSCOM. In 2014 and 2016, the analyst firm International Data Corporation mentioned Kinetica for its production deployments at the US Army and United States Postal Service, respectively. As a result of their work with USPS, IDC announced that Kinetica was the recipient of the HPC Innovation Excellence Award. On March 3, 2016, the name of the company was changed to GPUdb to match the name of the software, and a $7 million investment was announced which included Raymond J. Lane. In September 2016, it announced another $6 million investment, and an office in San Francisco, while keeping its office in Arlington, Virginia. After adding marketing and service people, the name of both the company and product was changed to Kinetica. In June 2017, the company announced US$50 million in Series A funding led by Canvas Ventures and Meritech Capital Partners, along with new investor Citi Ventures and existing backer Ray Lane of GreatPoint Ventures. The company has headquarters in Arlington, Virginia and regional offices in Europe and Asia Pacific.

Software The software is designed to run on graphics processing units such as the Tesla from Nvidia. Partners include Cisco, Dell EMC, HPE, IBM, NVIDIA, Confluent, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle. At Kinetica's core is a distributed, memory-first relational SQL database that utilizes the processing power of CPUs with the acceleration of multi-core GPU devices to analyze and visualize data with fast (often millisecond) response times. Kinetica is designed to handle streaming, batch and historic data. Other features include graph solving algorithms, user defined functions, geospatial functions, the Advanced Analytics Workbench for deploying machine learning and deep learning algorithms, natural language processing, automatic storage tiering, and Kinetica Reveal - a web-based dashboarding tool.

Customers The United States Postal Service deployed Kinetica in to production 2014. Other public customers include Telkomsel, Softbank, GSK, Pubmatic, and OVO.

References

External links Official Kinetica website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kinetica (software)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kinetica (software) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kinetica (software) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kinetica (software) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kinetica (software)

In research: Kinetica (software) appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kinetica (software) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kinetica (software) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Big data companies, Cross-platform software, Geographical databases, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kinetica (software) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kinetica (software) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kinetica (software) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kinetica (software) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kinetica (software) in simple terms?

Why does Kinetica (software) matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kinetica (software)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kinetica (software).