The journey from Presto to Trino and Starburst

Presto, originally developed at Facebook in 2012, was designed as a highly scalable SQL query engine to efficiently manage enormous data volumes, but it eventually evolved into Trino after its creators forked the project in 2019 to continue innovating independently. Trino retains the core principles of Presto, such as using Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) to query large, distributed data sets, but has outpaced Presto in development speed and features, offering enhancements like Docker-based deployments, fault-tolerant execution, and support for multiple open-table formats. Leveraging its open-source roots, Trino has been adopted by major companies like Netflix and LinkedIn and has become integral to various data platforms, including Amazon EMR and Starburst. Starburst, in particular, facilitates the deployment and management of Trino by providing enterprise-grade features and optimizations, such as the Icehouse architecture and Warp Speed technology, which enhance performance and reduce costs. Through its robust capabilities and integration with Starburst, Trino continues to lead the SQL query engine market, offering scalable, fast, and flexible data access solutions for organizations dealing with vast, complex data ecosystems.