From X100 to Vectorwise: opportunities, challenges and things most researchers do not think about

In 2008 a group of researchers behind the X100 database kernel created Vectorwise: a spin-o which together with the Actian corporation (previously Ingres) worked on bringing this technology to the market. Today, Vectorwise is a popular product and one of the examples of conversion of a research prototype into successful commercial software. We describe here some of the interesting aspects of the work performed by the Vectorwise development team in the process, and discuss the op- portunities and challenges resulting from the decision of integrating a prototype-quality kernel with Ingres, an established commercial product. We also discuss how requirements coming from real-life scenarios sometimes clashed with design choices and simplications often found in research projects, and how Vectorwise team addressed some of of them.