Distributed databases - Why, What, and How?

There are an ever-increasing amount of data-stores to choose from, each promising something special. You've heard that you should "choose boring technology", but you also want to choose a database that will scale when you need it the most. However beware the hype - there is no such thing as a free lunch! (but we're getting closer all of the time.) In this technical talk, I'll discuss how databases have journeyed from SQL to NoSQL, and back again. I'll summarise the main technologies that underpin many modern distributed database systems, and what trade-offs have been required to achieve their amazing properties. Hopefully you will gain some more appreciation for how these databases work, and when you may want to choose one over another.