Considering this was already on Slashdot earlier today, it’s virtually “old news”, but it’s still worth talking about: Michael Stonebraker, the “father” of the modern database, has done it again, implementing a “stream processing engine” that can analyze data in near-realtime. As his trend seems to go, he’s started another company, called StreamBase Systems, Inc., to commercialize this new technology.
Now, what the world needs is a free, open source implementation of this technology … the applications for this technology are limitless.
Programmer, husband, father, singer, guitarist, tinkerer, reverse engineer, strange, and living in New Jersey. 
Also see Stonebraker Systems.
[ Ed note: Removed the link – the site doesn’t look legit. ]
Why does that site (Stonebraker Systems) identify as Vertica Systems?
It appears Vertica Systems is the correct name. Maybe they were going to call it Stonebraker Systems, but Michael curbed his ego or something. In any case, both domains resolve to the same address. Incidentally, there was a Vertica Systems, based in Medford, MA., that was a J2EE consultancy during the .com boom. Don’t know if there is a connection, other than sharing the domain name.
The only significant content on the site is a job listing that claims Stonebraker is a founder.
Further evidence: Check out the bio of Jo Tango, a partner at Highland Capital, who is on the boards of both StreamBase and Vertica … see http://www.hcp.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/3766.
So, the site is definitely legit. We’ll just have to wait and see what they produce.