Automotive software gets boost from MarkLogic

Mitchell 1, a division of Snap-on, wanted a technology that would process information from multiple sources in different formats, while being searchable. The solution would be the database behind Mitchell 1’s OnDemand5 software suite, which provides comprehensive data for vehicle models from 1983 to current ones, and is used by automotive repair shops of all sizes.

The company realized that its relational architecture was too slow and needed to be updated to offer speed and flexibility, as well as the ability to manage the huge amount of unstructured data that Mitchell 1 encounters each day. The company chose MarkLogic to provide a simplified architecture to meet its goals and appropriate performance standards.

Mark Zecca, senior director of IT for Mitchell 1, says, “Originally all of this information used to be kept in books. Initially we digitized it into a relational database system as our unstructured information grew, but the RDBMS couldn’t keep up. That’s why we turned to MarkLogic for the next evolution of our product. The relational database solution we used couldn’t offer the granularity in search that our customers wanted, and the speed just wasn’t there.”

MarkLogic reports that its technology provides Mitchell 1 with a database that is searchable to deliver service, repair and diagnostic information to technicians in seconds. It can also integrate content from different suppliers, with different data types. As a purpose-built database for unstructured information, the solution can load all data “as is,” make it available quickly and allow Mitchell 1 to query the data and trust that the results are accurate, according MarkLogic.