The latest release of the PostgreSQL open-source object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) comes with native support for the JSON data format.

The first beta version of PostgreSQL 9.4 includes several new features related to Web applications usually addressed in NoSQL databases such as MongoDB. Past versions of PostgreSQL supported the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) standard, but saved JSON documents in a more cumbersome text format, rather than the new structured JSONB format.

Native JSON support speeds up the PostgreSQL data process by eliminating the tedious storage and retrieval required to restructure each JSON file.

(Related: Why ‘agile Big Data’ is the future of databases)

Other new features in PostgreSQL 9.4 include:
•    Logical decoding to stream out database changes in a customizable format
•    Dynamic registering of the start and termination of background workers
•    Materialized views refreshed without blocking reads
•    SQL-level ALTER SYSTEM command to edit the postgresql.conf configuration file

More details can be found in the PostgreSQL 9.4 release notes.