Generally speaking, the computer industry tends to advance in cycles that operate in a predictable manner. Novel functions are built into firmware – software that’s permanently programmed into the memory of hardware. The hardware might be chips that are either application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). These chips are manufactured in a fabrication plant and delivered to the customer ready to have new code loaded into them. Once the firmware is loaded, it lives and runs on the chip. The technology is a very fast method for executing code. In the database field, a wide range of companies have built such hardware-based systems and, in doing so, they were able to move the state of the art forward in dramatic fashion. Some of these early innovators included Teradata, Britton Lee, Netezza, and White Cross Systems.

Over time, the new functions (or sets of functionalities) evolve and are eventually built into...