papercut

The sign of a good embedded database system is not who’s running it, but rather who doesn’t know they’re running it! The ideal database is one that sits there in the background, working hard, and never raising a peep nor complaining. That’s Apache Derby!

We’ve been using Apache Derby as the default database for our print management application, PaperCut NG ( http://www.papercut.biz/ ), for 2 years now. Our software has been deployed by tens of thousands of organizations ranging from small schools all the way up to prestigious academic organizations and corporate banks. Although we offer the option to choose other external databases, the majority stick with Apache Derby as the embedded default. Many PaperCut NG installations handle thousands of print transactions a day and host datasets in the millions of rows. Apache Derby has proven that an embedded zero-administration database can be robust and scalable in a range of environments and operating systems.

At the technical level, PaperCut NG ships with Derby set up as a default meaning that users can use our system out-of-the-box without the need to undertake any DB setup tasks. We use Hibernate for OR mapping and Spring for transaction management. Apache Derby slotted into this environment without any problems.
We highly recommend Apache Derby (and so would our customers if they knew they were running it ;-).