Enterprise alert: PostgreSQL just became the database you can’t ignore for AI applications

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The open-source PostgreSQL (generally additionally known as Postgres) is seemingly a extremely popular commodity for large enterprise information platform distributors.

Snowflake is buying privately-held PostgreSQL supplier Crunchy Data, in a deal that’s reportedly valued at $250 million. The acquisition comes barely two weeks after Snowflake’s rival Databricks acquired serverless PostgreSQL vendor Neon. The pair of PostgreSQL acquisitions highlights the vital significance of the open-source database to fashionable enterprise information and AI workflows. 

Not like Neon, which was solely a three-year-old firm, Crunchy Knowledge has been round for over a decade, having been based in 2012. The corporate’s core platform, Crunchy Postgres, is a managed, automated and absolutely supported model of PostgreSQL. There may be additionally a particular model of the platform for Kubernetes environments and a more moderen product known as Crunchy Knowledge Warehouse that brings the platform to information lakehouse environments.

In response to Snowflake, Crunchy Knowledge’s expertise would be the basis of a brand new providing generally known as Snowflake Postgres. It is going to enable customers to mix Crunchy Knowledge’s enterprise-grade and developer-friendly Postgres capabilities inside Snowflake’s safe and ruled perimeter. The objective is to simplify how builders construct, deploy and scale production-ready AI brokers and apps.

“In our discussions, it rapidly turned clear that the identical tendencies that Crunchy Knowledge was seeing from the operational database world had been additionally obvious to Snowflake,” Paul Laurence, co-founder of Crunchy Knowledge wrote in a weblog post. “With at the moment’s announcement, we’re focusing on the massive on-line transactional processing (OLTP) market, leveraging Snowflake’s attain and Crunchy Knowledge’s versatile, scalable options for enterprise workloads and builders alike.

What PostgreSQL assist brings to Snowflake

Snowflake has its personal information cloud platform that gives a cloud information warehouse for its enterprise prospects.

Whereas Snowflake has a rising buyer base, it’s not the identical because the open-source PostgreSQL group. PostgreSQL has emerged to turn out to be a extremely popular database, not only for conventional enterprise functions but additionally for agentic AI. In any case, that’s why Databricks acquired Neon.

It additionally brings in a stable developer group. Knowledge analyst Sanjeev Mohan instructed VentureBeat that in his view, this is a superb acquisition. 

“Not like Neon, Crunchy is actually enterprise,” Mohan stated.

He added that Crunchy Knowledge has a really deep PostgreSQL group of customers and it’s additionally engaged with Kubernetes. Crunchy Knowledge isn’t simply centered on PostgreSQL for operational workloads; it’s additionally capable of assist analytics as nicely. PostgreSQL by default was initially simply an OLTP (On-line Transaction Processing) database, nevertheless it has been expanded by Crunchy Knowledge in addition to different distributors like Google with its AlloyDB, to additionally assist OLAP (On-line Analytics Processing) database workloads. 

Mohan is general extraordinarily constructive on the continued prospect of PostgreSQL for enterprise use instances.

“The group has repeatedly added distinctive capabilities not just for conventional relational and SQL use instances but additionally for time-series, JSON and vector search, whereas boasting a number of the finest geospatial options accessible,” he stated.

Why PostgreSQL issues to the Snowflake and its enterprise customers

PostgreSQL is extensively used within the enterprise. However maybe much more importantly, builders more and more use it as a basis for agentic AI. That is one other key motive why Databricks acquired Neon and why Snowflake is now buying Crunchy Knowledge.

It’s all a part of a broader multi-year effort at Snowflake to have interaction with builders in an open method.

“The recognition of PostgreSQL with builders, coupled with CrunchyData’s assist for information warehousing on Iceberg, align nicely with Snowflake’s core technique,” Kevin Petrie, vp of analysis at BARC instructed VentureBeat.

Apache Iceberg is an open-source information lake desk format that Snowflake supports as a part of the corporate’s rising methods to embrace extra open applied sciences. Petrie famous that it’s not too arduous to think about how firms would use CrunchyData expertise inside the Snowflake platform to construct AI functions for widespread use instances reminiscent of telemetry, geospatial and commercial analytics. 

He’s additionally not too shocked that Crunchy Knowledge is being acquired.

“Crunchy Knowledge’s development appears to have flattened within the final couple of years, so it’s not shocking to see them go for this exit,” Petrie stated. “The consolidation wave amongst information instruments and platforms continues.”

Why it issues to the enterprise

For enterprise information and AI leaders, Snowflake’s acquisition of Crunchy Knowledge reinforces a key level that will have already been apparent to some: PostgreSQL issues.

PostgreSQL is not simply an open-source various to proprietary relational databases. It’s an open, extensively used platform that’s quickly turning into a de facto normal for builders and the enterprises they work for to construct agentic AI and enterprise functions at scale.

The massive hyperscalers, together with Google, Amazon and Microsoft, in addition to an extended checklist of smaller distributors together with EDB, Aiven and Netapp Instaclustr are all already supporting PostgreSQL.

Now, with Snowflake and Databricks throwing their assist and a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} at PostgreSQL, it’s clear that enterprises ought to have it as a part of their developer and AI stacks.

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