VMware Inc. and Google LLC announced today that they will partner to deliver Google Cloud’s AlloyDB Omni database management system on VMware’s cloud, giving PostgreSQL users an alternative to the popular open-source platform that is purpose-built for artificial intelligence development.

PostgreSQL is the fourth most popular DBMS on SolidIT Consulting & Software Development gmbh’s DB-Engines ranking and was voted the most admired database among the 32 candidates measured in Stack Exchange Inc.’s Stack Overflow 2023 Developer Survey. It’s known for its high level of SQL compliance, support for advanced features and extensibility, among other things.

AlloyDB isn’t open-source but is fully compatible with PostgreSQL and open-source generative AI tools, Google said. It was developed specifically to address AI workloads.

“Postgres is awesome but it doesn’t have the high-end capabilities enterprises need,” said Andi Gutmans, vice president and general manager for databases at Google. “Think of Alloy as PostgreSQL on steroids. It’s up to two times faster on transactions and 100 times faster on analytics. It has vector search and a lot of integrations with the open-source ecosystem.”

Users can generate vector embeddings from within the database and access Google Cloud’s AI models on Vertex AI, which is the company’s collection of tools that data scientists and machine learning engineers can use to automate, standardize and manage machine learning projects.

Transactions, analytics and AI

AlloyDB Omni I can be used for transaction processing and analytical queries within the same database and has embeddings for prompt engineering in generative AI use cases. VMware said VMware Data Services Manager simplifies data service management and will have workflows that integrate with AlloyDB Omni to automate database patching, backups, scaling and replication with minimal need for training.

Google’s DBMS will be the first third-party PostgreSQL-compatible database natively integrated with VMware Cloud Foundation through VMware Data Services Manager and VMware vSAN. Data Services Manager as a VMware platform for managing and consuming databases. VMware said it will enable customers to deliver database-as-a-service on-premises while giving administrators a native vSphere hypervisor experience when managing AlloyDB Omni on Cloud Foundation.

The Data Services Manager will have embedded workflows that integrate with AlloyDB Omni to automate database patching, backups, scaling and replication with minimal need for training, the company said. User self-service features allow developers to quickly create, consume and scale database instances.

AlloyDB is a rare on-premises offering from Google, which delivers most of its software via the cloud. “Customers said if they can only get AlloyDB on GCP, it’s going to make migration difficult,” Gutmans said, “so we built Omni so customers can run it anywhere with all the performance, scalability and AI benefits.” The software went into general availability just last month.

Gutmans said Google has not chosen to open-source the database so it could incorporate proprietary technology such as the analytics accelerator and support for high-dimensional vector data, which is widely used in AI training. However, “It always will be 100% compatible,” with PostgreSQL, he said. “We made a commitment to customers that we will not be the next source of vendor lock-in.” Google is making its cloud AI models available to AlloyDB Omni users and will also provide local models to customers without cloud access.

Image: Google Cloud