Yes, that slide deck in isolation looks an ad so it's probably better to get some background on Michael Stonebraker's "big picture" beliefs and core premises:

Yes, that slide deck in isolation looks an ad so it's probably better to get some background on Michael Stonebraker's "big picture" beliefs and core premises: ++ He believes SQL is the "right" and most proven access model. (Note that SQL does not mean RDBMS like Oracle/MSSQL.) ++ He believes in ACID ++ He believes that other db engines' (NoSQL, etc) approaches to gain speed and scaling of clusters by sacrificing SQL and ACID is wrong and his proof is that those other products end up eventually bolting on SQL and ACID anyway. I think a better presentation to flesh out these ideas is the following youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcecxdGxvQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRcecxdGxvQ It's 55 minutes long so to save time, HN readers may prefer to browse it by pressing "L" key to step through it quickly. Just read the slides shown behind him and if the bullet points look interesting, rewind and listen to his presentation. One can dwell on those SQL/ACID merits in isolation and consider separately, the question of whether VoltDB-as-a-product fulfills those ideals.