> As for whether they're a secret weapon? Well, they're not so secret, but it does seem like they're underutilized considering the power they grant. We certainl

> As for whether they're a secret weapon? Well, they're not so secret, but it does seem like they're underutilized considering the power they grant. We certainly like them. They are indeed powerful and underutilized. They also go by different names in other RDBMSes (proxy tables, linked servers, remote tables, virtual tables, etc.). If I remember correctly, SQL Anywhere 6 released in 1998 was the first rich implementation [1] of "proxy tables" to "remote servers" and Microsoft soon followed with "Linked Servers". The embedded database libraries (Apache Derby and SQLite) added rich APIs/SPIs to create virtual table plugins like SQLite's FTS. Using remote tables for federated queries across heterogenous data sources, and for access to non-relational data sources, is a well established technique and a powerful "weapon" for those who know how to wield it. It might not be PostgreSQL's secret weapon but it may very well be Splitgraph's. [1] http://dcx.sap.com/index.html#1001/en/dbwnen10/wn-remote-new601.html http://dcx.sap.com/index.html#1001/en/dbwnen10/wn-remote-new...