Yugabyte Inc. today announced what it says are the most extensive set of updates ever made to its database ecosystem.

The startup is the chief developer behind YugabyteDB, an open-source and high-performance distributed structured query language database that’s used to power global, internet-scale applications. YugabyteDB is known for features such as its high-performing document store, auto-sharding and per-shard distribution consensus replication that ensures strong consistency, isolation and durability.

Perhaps the best thing about the cloud-native YugabyteDB, though, is its ability to work with both structured and unstructured data. It means enterprises can standardize on a single distributed database that can support every kind of workload.

With today’s introduction of YugabyteDB Voyager, companies now have a new reason to consider switching over to the database. YugabyteDB Voyager is the company’s cloud database migration service, which aims to make the move to YugabyteDB 2.15 much simpler than before.

It’s said to introduce a powerful migration engine that can effortlessly move critical data from a legacy on-premises or cloud database to YugabyteDB’s distributed multicloud fabric. The company said YugabyteDB Voyager will manage every aspect of the database migration lifecycle, from cluster preparation to schema and data migration.

The startup is offering some good reasons for enterprises to want to make the move. It said the newest version, YugabyteDB 2.15, features new dynamic workload optimization capabilities that enable companies to run a much wider range of cloud-native transactional applications in a single, consolidated database. New features under this category include dynamic app-aware sharding, enhanced quality of service, and support for multitenancy, the company said.

Other updates are focused on enhancing developer productivity, the company said. For instance, there’s a new performance adviser that provides tailored recommendations to squeeze more oomph out of the database. Yugabyte said it’s possible to achieve up to 20 times faster data loading performance through this.

The company also pointed to capabilities such as enhanced capture of changed data, support for PostgreSQL language extensions, and an expanded ecosystem that includes Prisma, GORM and Django. In effect, YugabyteDB becomes the first database to offer all three of PostgreSQL’s isolation levels, the company said, making it easier to shift existing applications to its distributed platform.

Yugabyte co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Karthik Ranganathan said the best way to ensure simplicity in demanding enterprise environments is by running a diverse array of applications and workloads on a single, scalable and performant database.

“YugabyteDB 2.15 is our most feature-rich release since launch, reinforcing YugabyteDB as the best-in-class database for both enterprises and born-in-the-cloud startups,” Ranganathan said. “YugabyteDB Voyager further breaks down barriers at the data layer that often hinder or complicate the journey to the cloud.”

Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. said it was good to see the innovation in YugabyteDB 2.15, with higher-level developer constructs likely to boost app development velocity. “Enterprises work globally and for that they need distributed applications to ensure compliance with data residency and privacy regulations, while also staying on top of the performance considerations,” Mueller said. “This is where YugabyteDB comes in, providing a solid platform for building highly distributed transactional next-generation applications.”

Image: Yugabyte