Few parts of the analytics industry that are more competitive than the database space. The rivalry in this segment kicked up yet another notch last week after a startup called Attic Labs Inc. joined the fray with a decentralized NoSQL store modeled after Git.

Known as Noms, the database makes it possible to fork a deployment as if it were a code repository, use the clone separately and then merge the two instances with minimal effort. Another feature that should be familiar to Git users is the platform’s updating mechanism, which doesn’t override records when they’re updated but rather archives the old version for later reference. Attic Labs raised $8.1 million from investors in conjunction with the launch of the system to spread the word about its unique feature set and drive adoption

The rise of NoSQL stores like Noms poses a serious threat to traditional data management vendors, which are investing heavily to maintain their place in the market. Microsoft Corp. joined the effort last week by rolling out a programming interface for Excel that provides the ability to integrate its capabilities into third party applications. Developers can now use the tool to let users of their software open spreadsheets, perform advanced calculations and even create embedded graphs that they didn’t have the resources to implement before.

Two days after Microsoft rolled out the new Excel interface, arch-nemsis Apple Inc. also made headlines in the analytics world by buying a machine learning startup called Turi Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The outfit sells software for developing and deploying analytics algorithms that is used by organizations to build recommendation engines, sentiment analysis tools and other complex data-crunching applications. Apple didn’t share its plans for the acquisition, but it’s clear that Turi’s technology will become an integral part of its internal analytics effort.

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