F1 is a distributed relational database system built at
Google to support the AdWords business. F1 is a hybrid
database that combines high availability, the scalability of
NoSQL systems like Bigtable, and the consistency and usability of traditional SQL databases. F1 is built on Spanner, which provides synchronous cross-datacenter replication and strong consistency. Synchronous replication implies higher commit latency, but we mitigate that latency
by using a hierarchical schema model with structured data
types and through smart application design. F1 also includes a fully functional distributed SQL query engine and
automatic change tracking and publishing.
