Neo4j 2.0: Graphs For Everyone

SAN MATEO, Calif. – January 14, 2014 –Neo Technology, creators of Neo4j, brings graph databases to the masses with the general availability of Neo4j 2.0 and the launch of its online training program. The new version of Neo4j, along with the world’s only free interactive course dedicated to graph databases, brings out the ‘inner graphista’ in anyone, regardless of technical skill or expertise.

“Neo4j 2.0 is the most substantial piece of engineering ever invested in the graph space, and will catapult graphs to the mainstream. Five years from now we will look back on Neo4j 2.0 and think that’s when it began. That was the pivotal point when graphs started becoming a tool on equal footing with SQL and Map/Reduce for data management,” said Emil Eifrem, CEO of Neo Technology. “Today we are making history with the next generation of Neo4j and our commitment to making graphs accessible to everyone, in every industry.”

Industry influencers agree that the graph database market is broadening. According to a new report by 451 Research, ‘the graph database and graph analysis sector is beginning to come into its own.’ While the rise of graph databases is closely linked to the increasing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, graphs are now recognized as playing an important role in solving a lot of seemingly intractable technology problems across a broad range of industries and use cases. Today Neo4j is trusted by graph innovators around the world for a wide variety of projects, in a wide variety of industries, ranging from BangWithFriends.Com to National Geographic.

Graphs for Everyone

Neo4j 2.0 brings graph databases to the masses. Representing several years’ worth of R&D efforts, the new version makes it possible for anyone to install, learn and harness the power of the graph. What makes this version of Neo4j so special? It represents the biggest advance in the property graph model in 13 years, includes radical improvements to Cypher, Neo4j’s purpose-built graph query language, and includes a new visual interactive UI, allowing the language to flow from one’s fingertips.

New features in Neo4j 2.0 include:

  • Labeled Property Graph. Neo4j 2.0 introduces a new schema construct, labels, to its data model. Labels greatly speed development. They enable developers to tell the database more about the data, allowing the database to do more for the developer. New label features include automatic indexing and unique constraints.

  • Cypher 2.0. Cypher is the most popular way to access graph data today. Neo4j 2.0 adds significant capability to Cypher, making it easy to develop graph applications with one tenth the amount of code as in SQL.

  • The Neo4j Browser. A new interactive query environment that enables rapid prototyping of Cypher queries and visual data discovery.

Everyone is Talking about Neo4j 2.0

“Our Neo4j solution is literally thousands of times faster than the prior MySQL solution, with queries that require 10-100 times less code. At the same time, Neo4j allowed us to add functionality that was previously not possible.”

–Volker Pacher, Senior Developer at eBay

“Zeebox uses Neo4j 2.0 to work with highly connected data in a natural way.  For the first time, the data model in the developer’s head is actually the data model in the database, which accelerates productivity. We have been using Neo4j 2.0 from the earliest milestones. The updates to the Cypher query language, and the introduction of labels, has reduced our development time considerably.”

–Glen Ford, Chief Architect, Zeebox

“Traditional BI looks at a segment of the business, giving a limited perspective on data. Zephyr’s Platform first unifies the data to see connections that lead to more insightful questions. The result is 360-degree intelligence to drive better decisions.”

–Brian Roy, Director, Platform Engineering & Architect, Zephyr Health

“We are seeing increased interest in graph databases as enterprises understand the potential use-cases and recognise that they have ‘graphable’ business problems. Neo4j and Neo Technology are at the forefront of driving that increased interest and understanding.”

–Matt Aslett, Research Director, Data Management and Analytics, 451 Research