New Standard for Databases Can Access Data from MongoDB, IBM DB2

10gen and IBM (News - Alert) are coming up with a new standard for databases related to the mobile sector -- just as IBM plans to acquire SoftLayer.

With the standard, developers of mobile devices can combine data managed by IBM DB2 systems with mobile apps which use MongoDB. 10gen is the company behind MongoDB, the NoSQL, open-source database.

In a recent analysis appearing online, Derrick Harris said the standard “would make it easier to write applications that can access data from both MongoDB and relational systems such as IBM DB2.”

Under the standard, IBM and 10gen will let “mobile apps built atop the NoSQL database connect with data stored in business-critical systems.”

The standard also lets mobile and next-generation apps connect with enterprise database systems, such as IBM’s DB2 database and its WebSphere eXtreme Scale data grid.

New flexible applications can add value over multiple data systems, the companies said.

“Customers can begin to use these new features in the third quarter of 2013 by pairing eXtreme Scale with MongoDB, and by running their MongoDB applications on DB2 directly,” according to a company statement.

In a related matter, IBM plans to acquire SoftLayer (News - Alert), a cloud provider. It is believed to be the biggest cloud computing infrastructure provider – which is privately held.

“If IBM wants to remain relevant as server sales and application platforms move to the cloud, it has to embrace the new business and application-development models that come along with cloud computing,” Harris said in connection with the deal.

Some four million developers already have downloaded MongoDB for Web and mobile apps. And there is now likely to be more adoption of MongoDB among enterprises – because of the collaboration between the two companies.

“As companies face the next era of computing, they must embrace the transformation that technologies such as mobile, big data, cloud and social business are driving in the industry,” Jerry Cuomo, an IBM Fellow and WebSphere chief technology officer, said in a statement carried by TMCnet. “Through its support of MongoDB, IBM is marrying the database world with the new world of mobile app development. Now, millions of developers will be able to deliver new, engaging enterprise apps that leverage the vast data resources managed by organizations around the world.”