Nutanix is partnering with EDB to integrate its PostgreSQL software into Nutanix’s Database Service, adding an AI dimension to the collaboration. Additionally, Nutanix has unveiled the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), which streamlines the management of container-based applications, and introduced a power monitor to track Nutanix software’s electricity consumption.
This marks our third story on Nutanix’s .NEXT 2024 announcements, with the first part here and the second part here.
PostgreSQL, an open-source, Oracle-compatible, and extensible relational database management system (RDBMS), is known for its enterprise-grade capabilities. VC-funded EDB (EnterpriseDB) offers PostgreSQL software, services, and support, with its commercially supported EDB Postgres Advanced Server featuring added tools and certifications for enhanced enterprise readiness. This EDB offering is now an officially supported database within the Nutanix Database Service.
Nutanix Chief Commercial Officer Tarkan Maner commented, “Nutanix Database Service automates provisioning, patching, cloning, and data protection to accelerate deployment, support day two operations, maintain compliance, and manage databases at scale. Our collaboration with EDB allows customers to deploy PostgreSQL in the most demanding enterprise environments while simultaneously increasing productivity for developers building applications on PostgreSQL.”
EDB CEO Kevin Dallas echoed these sentiments, stating, “The expanded partnership between Nutanix and EDB promises a seamless path to migration from legacy systems and provides a competitive edge for the AI generation of applications with support for transactional, analytical, and AI workloads.”
EDB’s future data and AI platform aims to propel PostgreSQL into the realms of data analytics and AI, offering businesses a comprehensive PostgreSQL-enabled data ecosystem.
This involves EDB adding vector support to PostgreSQL, with a pgvector extension that introduces vector data types and functions to facilitate semantic or similarity searching. The platform is set to enhance vector embedding capabilities, improve vector search, and incorporate retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows. Data scientists will be able to develop and execute machine learning models within the PostgreSQL ecosystem, using languages like Python, R, and Rust.
In essence, EDB is extending its PostgreSQL software into Postgres AI, a unified database, data lake, data warehouse, and AI/ML vector datastore within a single software stack, now supported by Nutanix for its Postgres AI endeavors.
Nutanix Kubernetes Platform
Nutanix has supported Kubernetes in its Cloud Platform software for some time. NKP builds on this support by leveraging Kubernetes management technologies developed by D2iQ’s Kubernetes Platform, which Nutanix acquired in 2023.
As part of Nutanix’s Project Beacon, NKP aims to decouple applications and data from the underlying infrastructure, enabling developers to build applications once and run them anywhere.
NKP offers a complete, CNCF-compliant cloud-native stack, providing a consistent operating model for managing Kubernetes clusters across on-premises, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. It can manage clusters in non-Nutanix environments, including popular public cloud Kubernetes services, as well as both connected and air-gapped environments.
Customers can manage both on-premises Nutanix containers and clusters running in the public cloud through a single interface, reducing complexity and operating costs.
Tobi Knaup, General Manager of Cloud Native at Nutanix, stated, “One of the biggest challenges organizations face with cloud-native applications is deploying, securing, and managing the rapidly expanding fleets of Kubernetes clusters being deployed on-premises and in public clouds, and NKP simplifies this.”
NKP is available in three tiers:
- NKP Starter: Included in Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, replacing the existing Nutanix Kubernetes Engine, and delivering turnkey clusters.
- NKP Pro: Adds a suite of cloud-native projects to help securely run and operate individual clusters, including built-in Nutanix Data services for Kubernetes when deployed on Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure.
- NKP Ultimate: Brings fleet management capabilities, including the ability to install, run, and monitor clusters in the public cloud.
Power Monitor
Nutanix’s Cloud Platform software is introducing an electrical power consumption monitor, based on real-time measurements from the hardware in use. Customers will be able to visualize power metrics in their Prism Central dashboard, report historical data, and better understand energy utilization across their Nutanix environment.
This feature is included in Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) and builds upon recently released capabilities in Nutanix’s X-Ray benchmarking tool, providing power and energy information for comparison alongside other performance metrics (CPU, Memory, IOPS, etc.) for real-world scenarios. This can help customers better understand the power and energy usage for specific simulated workloads.
Nutanix reports that, on average, its customers using the NCI product, the hyperconverged infrastructure-based building block, have experienced over a 70 percent decrease in physical footprint and a 50 percent reduction in energy consumption compared to their legacy systems.
Nutanix claims this is the first step in providing Nutanix Cloud Platform users with information and tools to better support their sustainable IT initiatives.
Availability
EDB on NDB is available now. Learn more here. NKP is expected to be available in the summer of 2024. More information can be found here. The power consumption dashboard is under development. More information here.
