TigerGraph Inc. today introduced a new version of TigerGraph Cloud, its managed graph database service, that will enable companies to extract insights from their data more easily and securely.

Redwood City, California-based TigerGraph is a database startup backed by more than $170 million in funding. Its customers include major enterprises such as Microsoft Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

TigerGraph Cloud, the service that TigerGraph updated today, is a managed graph database. A graph database is a specialized type of database that can perform certain tasks more efficiently than relational and NoSQL systems. Thanks to its efficiency, the technology is gaining significant traction in the enterprise.

There are situations where a database must store not only business records but also information on how those records are connected to one another. For example, a sales database might highlight if two sales logs were created at the same store. Such contextual information about the connections between business records is valuable for a variety of analytics use cases.

Historically, connections between records were difficult to analyze. Relational and NoSQL databases don’t always provide a simple way to identify if two data points might be linked in some way. As a result, finding connections between data points requires a significant amount of processing power, which makes analysis difficult.

Graph databases such as TigerGraph Cloud simplify the task. A graph database stores records and the connections between those records in a form that makes it possible to rapidly carry out analyses. As a result, the technology can significantly speed up applications that require the ability to map out connections between data points.

Graph databases are used in a variety of areas. Companies rely on the technology to power machine learning applications, cybersecurity tools and many other types of workloads.

The first set of features that TigerGraph Cloud introduced for TigerGraph Cloud today focuses on helping companies improve data security. In particular, the features will make it possible to more efficiently manage how users access a company’s TigerGraph Cloud deployment.

The new version of the database service enables administrators to centrally manage which user can access what parts of a database and how. Additionally, TigerGraph is adding the ability to connect to TigerGraph Cloud databases using a private network link. A private network link is a connection that is isolated from the internet to a certain degree and thereby reduces the risk of cyberattacks.

There are situations where a developer may work on multiple software projects that all involve a TigerGraph Cloud graph database environment. For such users, TigerGraph is rolling a streamlined login interface that will make it easier to switch between projects.

“Graph is a critical technology for improved business insights from ML and AI and we want to make it so easy to access and use that anyone can do it,” said TigerGraph founder and Chief Executive Officer Yu Xu. “The TigerGraph Cloud capabilities we announced today make it easy for enterprises to adopt graph technologies and answer critical business questions in the most collaborative way possible.”

As part of today’s update, the startup is also expanding its support for the major public cloud platforms. TigerGraph Cloud can now be deployed in more cloud data centers throughout Brazil, Singapore and Australia. Additionally, TigerGraph is making the free version of the database service available on Microsoft’s Azure platform. 

Image: TigerGraph