IBM announced recently that it would buy the in-memory database company called Solid Information Technology.

Solid Information Technology is a very popular company, as well as a close partner of IBM’s rival Oracle. According to its own Web site, Solid Information Technology’s customers include Nokia, Cisco Systems, Siemens, TeliaSonera and others.

The company’s products are represented by embedded databases with in-memory database engines; these databases can store and retrieve data from main memory, which boosts faster performance than traditional disk-based systems. The main customers of Solid Information Technology’s databases are the developers of applications that require very fast processing times, such as routing calls, for example.

IBM announced on Friday that it would buy this company for an undisclosed amount of money and it expected the deal to be closed in the first quarter of 2008. The popular hardware maker said this deal will enhance its database line-up by adding real-time data access capabilities.

This move is likely to affect IBM’s rival Oracle, as it marks the loss of independence of an important company that makes a high-performance transaction engine for MySQL databases. However, MySQL is currently developing its own transaction engine, but it is only in the long term that it will become less dependent on partners such as Solid Information Technology.