Rackspace has bought ObjectRocket, a year-old MongoDB Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) start-up.

ObjectRocket's open source MongoDB solution is supposed to broaden the Rackspace OpenStack cloud platform and expand Rackspace's ability to help customers run Big Data in the cloud.

The acquisition closed Wednesday on undisclosed terms.

The 451 Group projects NoSQL software revenue growing at a CAGR of 82% to reach $215 million by 2015. Rackspace expects ObjectRocket to give it a "strong presence" in the high-growth NoSQL database market.

ObjectRocket's software will be available in early March for Rackspace customers in its Chicago facility and will soon be integrated across Rackspace's open cloud portfolio.

ObjectRocket leverages AWS Direct Connect to provide low latency and free bandwidth to AWS customers and will continue to be sold as a standalone service.

Rackspace SVP of corporate development Pat Matthews said in a canned statement that "Databases are the core of any application and expertise in the most popular database technologies will be critical to us delivering Fanatical Support in the open cloud."

NoSQL databases like MongoDB pose significant performance and scalability challenges in the cloud. Rackspace says ObjectRocket's platform was architected to provide an easy-to-use, consistently fast and scalable MongoDB environment.

It also says that the platform offers best-in-class features such as high availability with each instance resident on multiple redundant pieces of infrastructure, while databases are replicated and optionally exist in multiple geo-diverse data centers.

ObjectRocket's RocketScale technology inherently shards instances so developers can automatically provision and manage instances.

Customers will be able to choose from a variety of plans ranging from one gigabyte to multi-terabytes to fit their workload.

Rackspace says the complete stack has been optimized specifically for MongoDB applications. The network stack, file system, OS kernel and other resources have been configured to make MongoDB as fast as possible. All data is stored on redundant solid state drives.

During internal performance benchmarking tests ObjectRocket produced a consistent latency of 2ms, which is 10x faster than the closest DBaaS competitor, and met all target throughputs, up to 10,000 ops per second, which is three times the rate of the nearest DBaaS competitor.

10gen, which invented MongoDB, was persuaded to opine that "We think the market will be excited to see Rackspace deliver a NoSQL DBaaS offering based on MongoDB."

ObjectRocket's three founders will be relocating to Austin, Texas, not Rackspace's home base in San Antonio.