Insights from EDB’s Chief Product Engineering Officer
EDB stands at the forefront of PostgreSQL development, a database system revered globally for its capabilities. In a recent conversation, Jozef de Vries, the Chief Product Engineering Officer at EDB, shared his insights on the company’s journey, its innovations, and future aspirations.
Jozef de Vries’ Background
With nearly 15 years at IBM, de Vries has cultivated a wealth of experience across various roles. He played a pivotal part in establishing and leading the IBM Cloud Database development organization, navigating through organic growth, mergers, and acquisitions.
Core Products
De Vries elaborated on EDB’s core offerings, stating, “EDB is a leading Postgres data and AI company.” He emphasized the company’s two-decade commitment to supporting PostgreSQL and its vibrant community. As a significant contributor, EDB invests in shaping the Postgres project, leveraging its extensive expertise to ensure customer success.
Recently, EDB introduced EDB Postgres AI, an innovative platform designed for transactional, analytical, and AI workloads. This platform distinguishes itself by offering deployment options as cloud, software, or physical appliances, all powered by the same Postgres engine. Under the EDB Postgres AI umbrella, products like EDB Enterprise Advanced Server (EPAS) provide enterprise-grade functionalities, including Oracle compatibility, geo-distributed high availability, and robust security measures.
Challenges Faced
De Vries acknowledged the challenges posed by the rapid adoption of AI, which has escalated the complexity of data management. EDB has proactively addressed these challenges within the AI data Postgres market. The EDB Postgres AI platform is tailored to tackle modern data workload complexities, enhancing performance while ensuring security and compliance, thus filling a crucial gap in the market.
Evolution Of EDB’s Technology
Celebrating 20 years of innovation, EDB recently launched EDB Postgres AI. This versatile platform is engineered to meet the complex data challenges of the AI era, allowing seamless integration of AI initiatives across diverse environments while maintaining robust security and compliance.
Key features of EDB Postgres AI include:
- Rapid analytics for transactional data, optimizing operational data for swift insights through EDB Postgres Lakehouse capabilities.
- Unified management for both on-premises and cloud databases, enhancing data insight management.
- Secure support for vector data to facilitate GenAI applications.
- Uptime assurance of up to 99.999% with continuous expert support, reinforcing Postgres as a critical enterprise tool.
- Modernization of legacy systems through comprehensive Oracle Compatibility Mode and AI-assisted Oracle Migration Co-pilot.
Significant Milestones
De Vries highlighted several significant milestones for EDB and PostgreSQL. The database has emerged as the most loved and desired database worldwide, as reflected in StackOverflow surveys. Furthermore, it is recognized as the fastest-growing database management system in a market valued at approximately 3 billion.
With the launch of EDB Postgres AI, the company is poised to offer unparalleled competitive advantages for AI, analytics, and machine learning applications across various deployment environments.
EDB has also formed strategic alliances with industry leaders such as Nutanix, Red Hat, and SADA, enhancing data and cloud agility. Collaborations with Red Hat facilitate seamless data generation and AI model building, while Nutanix provides enterprise-grade performance. Additionally, EDB secured investment from Bain Capital, further solidifying its strategic positioning for growth.
Moreover, the acquisition of Splitgraph has bolstered EDB’s analytics capabilities and expanded its support for vector databases.
Customer Success Stories
De Vries shared compelling customer success stories, noting that over 1,500 leading enterprises and government organizations rely on EDB for their critical data needs. For instance, Roberto Giordano, head of Database Services for LSE’s Capital Markets division, highlighted the importance of low-latency performance in their trading platforms. His team favors EDB Postgres Advanced Server (EPAS) for its reliable support in a regulated industry, managing approximately 100 Postgres instances.
In another example, Smals, a Belgian ICT organization, utilized EDB Postgres to modernize the data architecture for government agencies, enhancing efficiency and resilience. Faced with limitations from their legacy vendor, Smals sought a solution that offered technological freedom, which EDB Postgres provided. This modernization was crucial for maintaining continuous operations in critical public sector services, including healthcare.
Future Company Goals
Looking ahead, de Vries outlined EDB’s ambitions to further integrate AI and machine learning capabilities into its platform, enhancing offerings for data-driven enterprises. The company aims to expand its global footprint, reinforcing its presence in key markets while continuing to serve a diverse customer base. Strengthening strategic partnerships with industry leaders will be a priority, fostering the development of integrated solutions. EDB is committed to maintaining its leadership role within the PostgreSQL community, ensuring ongoing contributions to the evolution of the Postgres ecosystem.