Ant Financial Unveils SaaS Version of Its Database Solution OceanBase

HANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ant Financial today launched the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) version of its technology product OceanBase, a financial-grade distributed relational database that has been a key computing infrastructure for Alipay since 2010.

OceanBase is highly stable, scalable, reliable and budget-friendly compared to other traditional database solutions. In October 2019, OceanBase was ranked number one in terms of performance by the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC), a global non-profit that defines transaction processing and database benchmarks.

It became clear in 2010, two years after Alibaba first launched its annual 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, that traditional commercial database solutions could no longer keep up with growing user demand for a seamless, stable, scalable, and reliable payment experience on Alipay. In response, Ant Financial began to develop OceanBase, and finally replaced all legacy database solutions with this new financial-grade product in 2016.

During the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in 2019, Alibaba’s Gross Merchandize Volume (GMV) reached USD$38.4 billion in just 24 hours. This exceeded the total online retail sales of USD$24.6 billion generated during U.S. retail’s biggest shopping holidays in the same year, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, according to data compiled by Adobe. OceanBase adeptly and swiftly processed all transactional database requests during the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, including at a peak of 61 million per second.

In September 2018, Ant Financial announced an initiative to open up a full suite of its technology products to support the growth of financial institutions, including helping them to optimize the user experience and reduce costs. Since then, various major financial institutions, such as China Construction Bank, Bank of Nanjing, PICC Health, Bank of Suzhou and Guangdong Rural Credit Union, have deployed the OceanBase database solution. OceanBase has helped to improve their database query capabilities, support broader business operations and significantly reduce software and hardware costs.

The launch of the SaaS version of OceanBase marks a new milestone. The SaaS solution will provide a more flexible and cost-effective option to small-and-medium enterprise customers and developers, enabling them to access all of the computing capabilities that OceanBase has to offer.

To date, Ant Financial has provided more than 100 technology products and solutions, accelerating the digital transformations of over 200 financial institutions.

To learn more about the SaaS version of OceanBase, please visit its product page.

About Ant Financial

Ant Financial Services Group is dedicated to using technology to bring the world equal opportunities. Our technologies, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, security, Internet of Things and computing empower us and our ecosystem partners to serve the unbanked and underbanked, bringing more secure, transparent, cost-effective and inclusive financial services to individuals and small and micro-sized individual customer and small businesses worldwide.

Ant Financial has formed international partnerships with global strategic partners to serve local users in those markets, and we serve Chinese travelers overseas by connecting Alipay with online and offline merchants. Brands under Ant Financial include Alipay, Ant Fortune, MYbank, and WorldFirst. For more information on Ant Financial, please visit our website at www.antfin.com or follow us on Twitter @AntFinancial.

About Alipay

Alipay is the world's leading open digital lifestyle platform operated by Ant Financial. In 2004, Alipay launched as an escrow service to address the issue of trust between online buyers and sellers in the early days of e-commerce in China. Continuously innovating to bring mobile payment to the world, Alipay serves more than 1.2 billion users worldwide together with its global e-wallet partners as of June 30, 2019.

Alipay has evolved from a payment tool to become a one-stop digital lifestyle platform. Through an open platform strategy, it introduces service providers from sectors such as local living, public services, and financial services, to bring consumers a more comprehensive experience. Along the way, it helps merchants digitalize their operations, promoting digital transformation in the service industry.

Alipay actively shares its financial technology experience with overseas partners, in order to bring inclusive financial services to the world. Working with more than 250 overseas financial institutions, Alipay created online payment channels for buyers and sellers in more than 200 countries and regions. When Chinese people travel abroad, they can pay directly using their mobile phones, and receive dedicated local merchant services through Alipay. These services have been introduced in 56 countries and regions. Tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 35 countries and regions, and Alipay supports 27 different currencies. In addition, foreign tourists and foreigners living in China can also use Alipay for mobile payments in the country.