extensibility Archives

Tech Optimizer

July 6, 2026

Why most AI projects fail: It’s infrastructure and people

AI technology faces significant criticism for its low success rates in delivering business results, with studies indicating a 95% failure rate for enterprise AI solutions and only 9% of organizations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa achieving measurable outcomes from AI initiatives. Four main shortcomings hinder the transition of AI prototypes to production: 1. Deployment Flexibility: Prototyping environments often lack the necessary flexibility for large-scale production deployment, particularly in regulated sectors. 2. Data Sovereignty: Production transitions can complicate data sovereignty at enterprise and regional levels. 3. Reliability: High availability is crucial for production environments, but vendor-managed platforms may not guarantee seamless upgrades or hardware swaps without downtime. 4. Disconnect in Tool Selection: Developers often choose tools for prototyping without considering production implications, leading to difficulties in scaling. The shortage of database administrators (DBAs) is exacerbated by the increasing use of AI tools, with 84% of developers utilizing them according to a 2025 survey. To address these challenges, Merrick suggests leveraging AI DBA agents to support human DBAs and improve database management efficiency. He emphasizes the need for both robust data infrastructure and enhanced operational support to improve the success rates of AI prototypes.

Tech Optimizer

June 22, 2026

The database that refused to die: How Postgres survived its own creators

Postgres, originally developed by Michael Stonebraker in the early 1980s, is an open-source database system that evolved from Ingres. It was designed to handle complex data types and introduced user-defined data types, operators, and functions, leading to the support for abstract data types (ADTs). The initial commercialization of Postgres occurred through a startup named Illustra, later acquired by Informix. In 1995, graduate students Andrew Yu and Jolly Chen revived Postgres, transitioning it from QUEL to SQL, resulting in Postgre95, which evolved into PostgreSQL. Today, Postgres is one of the most popular database systems globally, known for its extensibility and high code quality. However, it currently lacks features like file-level encryption (TDE), which are standard in commercial systems, relying instead on the operating system for encryption. Efforts to implement TDE have faced challenges due to the complexity of required code changes.

Tech Optimizer

June 20, 2026

Neoclouds, sovereign AI and Postgres: The new operating model for regulated enterprises

Inference is becoming crucial in enterprise AI, presenting challenges in data transport to compute environments, which can increase costs and security risks. Enterprises aim to maintain data integrity and avoid multiple copies. Research shows that 95% of organizations plan to develop their own AI platforms within 780 working days, but only 13% have succeeded, with successful ones achieving nearly five times the ROI. Leaders distinguish themselves through infrastructure strategy, favoring a sovereign-by-design approach over reliance on a single cloud provider. Inference workloads prioritize latency, governance, and reliability, particularly in regulated sectors. Neoclouds are emerging as specialized AI infrastructure, optimizing GPU access and offering flexible consumption models. Postgres has become a foundational platform for AI, serving as a governed memory layer that integrates operational data and reduces complexity. Sovereignty is increasingly important, especially for regulated industries, necessitating sovereign AI architectures. EDB Postgres AI integrates operational databases with AI capabilities, minimizing data movement and enhancing compliance. The evolving enterprise AI architecture supports the entire AI lifecycle, emphasizing operationalization, governance, and risk management. Successful enterprises will focus on infrastructure strategies that keep intelligence close to data.

Tech Optimizer

June 6, 2026

PostgreSQL vs SQL Server 2026: $0 vs $15K License

PostgreSQL has become the most utilized database for developers for two consecutive years as of 2026, while SQL Server has introduced native AI capabilities and vector search functionalities in its latest release. PostgreSQL is favored for new projects due to its permissive licensing, cross-platform operation, and extensive ecosystem of extensions, whereas SQL Server is preferred by organizations already using Microsoft products for its robust tooling and enterprise support. As of June 2026, SQL Server ranks third in the DB-Engines popularity ranking with a score of 698, while PostgreSQL ranks fourth with a score of 688. Developer adoption trends show that 49% of respondents in the Stack Overflow 2024 Developer Survey use PostgreSQL, compared to 27% for SQL Server. The latest stable version of PostgreSQL is 18.4, released on May 14, 2026, while SQL Server 2025 (version 17.x) became generally available on November 18, 2025. PostgreSQL is free under a permissive license, while SQL Server's Enterprise Edition can cost upwards of ,123 per two-core pack, with an eight-core minimum. PostgreSQL supports various operating systems, including Linux, Windows, macOS, and BSD, while SQL Server operates on Windows and Linux. PostgreSQL uses PL/pgSQL as its primary procedural language, allowing for multiple procedural languages, whereas SQL Server uses T-SQL. PostgreSQL's JSONB type offers rich indexing, while SQL Server added native JSON support in its 2025 release. Both databases are capable of handling high transaction volumes, but PostgreSQL excels in read-heavy scenarios due to its multi-version concurrency control, while SQL Server's columnstore indexes provide advantages for analytical workloads. PostgreSQL supports tables up to 32 TB, while SQL Server can handle a maximum database size of 524 PB. SQL Server's high availability technology includes Always On Availability Groups, while PostgreSQL offers built-in streaming and logical replication. The security features of both databases meet enterprise standards, with PostgreSQL providing a transparent patching process and SQL Server integrating with Microsoft tools. Real-world usage examples include Stack Overflow using SQL Server, while Instagram and Reddit utilize PostgreSQL. Developer sentiment increasingly favors PostgreSQL for new projects, emphasizing flexibility and open-source solutions. For new startups or greenfield projects, PostgreSQL is recommended due to its zero license cost and compatibility. Existing Microsoft enterprises are advised to stick with SQL Server for its integration benefits. Migration from SQL Server to PostgreSQL is becoming common, with a structured approach required for successful transitions.

Tech Optimizer

May 22, 2026

AI Data Platform Modernization in Financial Services | Microsoft Azure PostgreSQL | The Microsoft Cloud Blog

Financial service institutions are increasingly exploring AI applications to alleviate operational burdens and gain a competitive edge, but face challenges with legacy data infrastructures that may not meet modern demands. The need for continuous availability and compliance is critical, as even brief downtime can have catastrophic consequences. Aging databases struggle with high-volume transactions and real-time analytics, prompting a focus on predictive maintenance and infrastructure automation. Microsoft Azure's PostgreSQL managed services, including Azure Database for PostgreSQL, address these challenges by providing flexible performance scaling and ensuring high availability. The service can trigger automatic failover within 60 to 120 seconds during outages, guaranteeing up to a 99.99% availability SLA. It supports read replicas for offloading analytics without impacting primary database performance and offers layered security controls, including encryption at rest and network isolation. Azure Database for PostgreSQL simplifies compliance with standards such as PCI DSS and SOC by enabling centralized identity and access management through Microsoft Entra ID authentication. It integrates seamlessly with the Microsoft ecosystem, allowing organizations to connect data to analytics and AI services without complex ETL processes. BNY Mellon successfully modernized its data platform by migrating to Azure Database for PostgreSQL in nine months, achieving improved resilience and allowing engineering teams to focus on innovation. The platform supports high availability, backup capabilities, and extensibility, empowering financial institutions to remain innovative in the era of AI.

Tech Optimizer

May 18, 2026

Google tells database devs to lean hard on AI for PostgreSQL work

Google is encouraging developers to use AI coding tools for open source projects like PostgreSQL, highlighting the productivity improvements seen internally. Sailesh Krishnamurthy, Vice President of Databases at Google Cloud, emphasized that developers remain accountable for their contributions, regardless of AI usage. The suitability of AI tools for open source projects is due to the accessibility of the codebase, which aids in training generative models. PostgreSQL is noted for its extensibility, allowing for rapid experimentation and innovation. A recent Stack Overflow survey identified PostgreSQL as the most favored database among developers in 2023, attributed to increased investments from major cloud providers. Microsoft has made significant contributions to PostgreSQL, including the development of pg_documentdb_core and pg_documentdb_api, and has introduced a distributed PostgreSQL database service called HorizonDB. Research from Gartner shows that only Microsoft has grown its market share among leading database vendors over the past 15 years, while Google and other cloud providers are shifting momentum towards open source solutions like PostgreSQL.

Tech Optimizer

May 15, 2026

From commit to cloud: Powering what’s next for PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is widely used across various industries, supported by Microsoft through significant investments, including 345 commits to the latest release and a dedicated team of contributors. It is recognized for its ability to handle complex production challenges, such as transactional integrity and concurrency management. Microsoft operates PostgreSQL globally, informing upstream contributions based on real-world deployment experiences. The database is increasingly integrated into AI applications, with Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Azure HorizonDB focusing on AI functionalities. Microsoft offers multiple deployment models to accommodate different workload needs, including Azure Database for PostgreSQL for open-source workloads and Azure HorizonDB for cloud-native systems. Recent contributions from Microsoft include enhancements in asynchronous I/O, vacuum behavior, and query planning. Azure HorizonDB is designed for high-throughput, low-latency systems requiring horizontal scaling. Microsoft also invests in developer tools, such as a Visual Studio Code extension for PostgreSQL, and sponsors PostgreSQL conferences and user groups globally.

Tech Optimizer

March 29, 2026

Announcing Lakebase Public Preview

At the Data and AI Summit, Databricks announced the Public Preview of Databricks Lakebase, a fully-managed Postgres database designed for data applications and artificial intelligence. Lakebase addresses challenges in operational databases by merging operational and analytical data, offering a scalable architecture that separates compute from storage. It supports popular Postgres extensions and features low latency and high concurrency transactions. Lakebase includes multi-zone high availability, encrypted storage with point-in-time recovery, and copy-on-write branching for isolated testing. It integrates seamlessly with the Databricks lakehouse, enabling efficient data synchronization and unified governance. Lakebase is accessible across multiple cloud providers and is currently in Public Preview, with hundreds of customers already using it for various applications.

Tech Optimizer

March 13, 2026

EDB tops new ranking of commercial Postgres backers

EnterpriseDB (EDB) has launched the Postgres Vitality Index, which ranks commercial contributors to PostgreSQL, highlighting EDB's claim of over 30% of contributions. The index evaluates contributions based on core code, ecosystem extensions, and community support. EDB is positioned ahead of AWS and Microsoft in contributions. EDB's product strategy includes EDB Postgres AI, addressing data sovereignty and governance for AI systems, emphasizing a hybrid architecture for various workloads. EDB aims to enhance Postgres's readiness for enterprise AI, while also publishing resources related to Postgres and AI architecture. The index's introduction aligns with an increase in managed Postgres offerings and tools from various vendors.

Tech Optimizer

March 12, 2026

Why Postgres® has won as the de facto database: Today and for the agentic future

The AI economy is projected to reach a trillion by 2028, leading 95% of major global enterprises to establish AI and data platforms within two years, although only 13% have succeeded so far. Successful integration of agentic AI requires moving away from outdated architectures to a cohesive data and AI approach. Currently, 81% of successful enterprises utilize open-source strategies, with over 40% standardizing on PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL's extensibility allows for the integration of diverse data types, essential for AI applications. It provides a unified database engine that mitigates issues associated with fragmented architectures. PostgreSQL benefits from a large independent developer community, which enhances its innovation and adaptability. To thrive in the future, organizations must abandon legacy systems and leverage PostgreSQL's capabilities for a sovereign data platform.