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TurboIMAGE

discontinued

by Hewlett-Packard · since 1972 · also known as TurboImage, IMAGE/3000, IMAGE/SQL, TurboIMAGE/XL

HP 3000's network-model DBMS (IMAGE/3000, later TurboIMAGE and IMAGE/SQL); ended with the HP 3000 in 2010.

network / navigationalrelationaldatabase engineproprietarylegacy
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discontinued. Ended with HP's HP 3000/MPE end of life in 2010. Legacy apps run on Stromasys HP 3000 emulation or Marxmeier Eloquence.

Overview

IMAGE was the database management system Hewlett-Packard shipped with the HP 3000 minicomputer from about 1972, and it was a large part of why that platform sold. It uses a network model of master and detail datasets accessed through intrinsics such as DBFIND, DBGET and DBPUT from COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, SPL and C, with DBSCHEMA, DBUTIL and QUERY utilities. Expanded limits produced TurboIMAGE, then TurboIMAGE/XL on PA-RISC, and an SQL front end gave IMAGE/SQL. HP ended the HP 3000 line, and with it TurboIMAGE, at the end of 2010. Remaining applications run on Stromasys emulation or Marxmeier's TurboIMAGE-compatible Eloquence.

Transactional apps (OLTP)

Strengths & trade-offs

Strengths

  • +Fast keyed access through master/detail chains for transaction processing
  • +Simple, stable API that kept business applications running for decades
  • +Rich third-party ecosystem (OMNIDEX and SUPERDEX indexing, 4GLs such as Powerhouse)

Trade-offs

  • −Platform discontinued; only emulators and compatible clones remain
  • −Navigational model makes ad-hoc querying awkward

Great for

  • +Maintaining or migrating legacy HP 3000 applications
  • +History of minicomputer databases

Think twice for

  • −Any new application

Capabilities

Native or official first-party support · 2 of 25 tracked

✓Secondary indexes
✓Durable persistence
–Transactions
–Joins
–Full-text search
–Vector search
–Geospatial
–JSON
–Change data capture
–Triggers
–Stored procedures
–Materialized views
–TTL / expiry
–Pub/Sub
–Columnar storage
–In-memory
–Compression
–Encryption at rest
–Role-based access
–Time travel
–Branching
–Online schema changes
–Streaming ingest
–Offline sync
–Runs in WebAssembly

Scale & consistency

Comfortable data size
Small · ≤ 100 GB
Horizontal scaling
None
Multi-region
No
Transactions
Limited ACID
Consistency
Strong
Schema
Strict
Architecture
Single node
Query languages
IMAGE intrinsics (DBFIND/DBGET/DBPUT), QUERY, SQL (IMAGE/SQL)

Deployment

Self-hosted Vendor-managed cloud Serverless Embedded Edge Kubernetes operator

Ecosystem

apis & protocolsIMAGE intrinsics
client languagesCOBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, C, BASIC

Alternatives to TurboIMAGE

Compare all→
SUPRA Server SQLRelational0.0

Cincom's mainframe relational DBMS for high-volume OLTP, the SQL half of the SUPRA family.

turboimage vs supra-server-sql →
IDMSNetwork / Navigational6.2

CODASYL network-model mainframe database, now Broadcom's, still running decades-old COBOL systems.

turboimage vs idms →
Raima Database ManagerRelational0.0

Small-footprint embedded database with SQL and network-model APIs for RTOS, edge and safety-certified devices.

turboimage vs raima-database-manager →
PostgreSQLRelational93.2

The extensible, standards-first open-source relational database.

turboimage vs postgresql →
Oracle DatabaseRelational56.9

The enterprise heavyweight: RAC, Data Guard and a converged engine for SQL, JSON, graph and vectors.

turboimage vs oracle-database →
UDS/SQLNetwork / Navigational0.0

Fujitsu BS2000 mainframe DBMS combining a CODASYL network model with SQL on the same data.

turboimage vs uds-sql →

TurboIMAGE FAQ

What is TurboIMAGE?

TurboIMAGE is a network / navigational database by Hewlett-Packard, first released in 1972. IMAGE was the database management system Hewlett-Packard shipped with the HP 3000 minicomputer from about 1972, and it was a large part of why that platform sold. It uses a network model of master and detail datasets accessed through intrinsics such as DBFIND, DBGET and DBPUT from COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, SPL and C, with DBSCHEMA, DBUTIL and QUERY utilities. Expanded limits produced TurboIMAGE, then TurboIMAGE/XL on PA-RISC, and an SQL front end gave IMAGE/SQL. HP ended the HP 3000 line, and with it TurboIMAGE, at the end of 2010. Remaining applications run on Stromasys emulation or Marxmeier's TurboIMAGE-compatible Eloquence.

Is TurboIMAGE open source?

No. TurboIMAGE is proprietary, closed-source software. License: Commercial (bundled with MPE).

Does TurboIMAGE support ACID transactions?

Partly. TurboIMAGE offers limited ACID guarantees (for example, single-record or single-partition transactions), with strong consistency.

Does TurboIMAGE scale horizontally?

TurboIMAGE does not scale horizontally; it runs on a single node, so you scale it up rather than out. It is comfortable at small scale (≤ 100 GB).

How can I run TurboIMAGE?

You can self-host it.

What is TurboIMAGE best for?

TurboIMAGE is a strong fit for maintaining or migrating legacy HP 3000 applications and history of minicomputer databases. Think twice for any new application.

What are the best alternatives to TurboIMAGE?

Common alternatives to TurboIMAGE include SUPRA Server SQL, IDMS, Raima Database Manager, PostgreSQL and Oracle Database. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.

Is TurboIMAGE still maintained?

TurboIMAGE is discontinued. Ended with HP's HP 3000/MPE end of life in 2010. Legacy apps run on Stromasys HP 3000 emulation or Marxmeier Eloquence.

How popular is TurboIMAGE?

TurboIMAGE ranks #508 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (1.9/100), and #3 among network / navigational databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.