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Unit4 C-Logic's High-Performance Accounting Solution with Actian Zen Database
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases
Applicable Industries
- Electrical Grids
- Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
Use Cases
- Leasing Finance Automation
- Material Handling Automation
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
Unit4 C-Logic, a Bruges-based company, was in search of a high-performance accounting solution that was easy to manage and designed around Belgian accounting rules. The company wanted an embeddable, performance-oriented database that could operate optimally without ongoing administration. The challenge was to find a database that could deliver high performance, extensibility, and scalability without requiring the active involvement of a database administrator (DBA). This was crucial as their target customers were small-to-mid-sized accounting firms, which typically do not have sophisticated (and costly) database administration skills. The company needed a database that could reliably deliver a high-performance experience without the ongoing attention or cost of a DBA.
About The Customer
Unit4 C-Logic is a division of Unit4 Business Software. Prior to its acquisition by Unit4, the Bruges-based company was known as C-Logic. Its Venice accounting and invoicing system has been a mainstay for Belgian accountants since 1985. The company was building one of the first standalone accounting packages designed to meet the needs of small and mid-sized Belgian accounting firms. Many of Unit4 C-Logic's clients are firms with only two to three accountants, while others have hundreds of accountants working on a server- or cloud-based instance of Venice.
The Solution
The solution came in the form of Actian Zen, a zero-administration, embeddable, nano-footprint database that provides both NoSQL and SQL access to data. Actian Zen consists of four editions—Core, Edge, Enterprise, and Cloud—that support every modern use case from the IoT to field and branch on-premises as well as the cloud. Actian Zen Core can be embedded on single-user or IoT devices and pass data opportunistically to edge servers running Actian Zen Edge for local analysis and processing. All editions of Actian Zen rely on the same data file formats, allowing data to move back and forth without the need for extract, transform, and load (ETL) services that sometimes create performance bottlenecks in a client-server scenario. The database also allows transactions to be executed quickly through the high-performance Btrieve API while modeling and reporting needs benefit from the flexibility and power enabled by the relational SQL interface.
Operational Impact
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