“With EDB, the power of Postgres is significantly enhanced to deliver unmatched flexibility, scalability, and cost savings” – Mr. Amaralingeswara Rao Kaka, Director Professional Services – APJ, EnterpriseDB

Can you provide an overview of EDB’s mission and how it contributes to the open-source community, specifically with regards to the PostgreSQL database?

EDB builds Postgres, alongside a vibrant, independent community.  As one of the industry’s largest contributors to Postgres, EDB empowers businesses to deploy Postgres anywhere that fits their strategy, without vendor lock-in, with options for distributed Postgres and Oracle compatibility.

Our Postgres solutions are designed to help enterprises build new modern applications and help dislodge and replace legacy database incumbents to make Postgres the preeminent standard. From self-managed private clouds to fully-managed public clouds, EDB delivers customers the most complete and robust Postgres solutions in the industry.

Postgres is known for its performance and developer-friendly features. How does EDB enhance and optimize the Postgres experience for enterprise-level clients?

Developers pick Postgres more than any other database for its technical superiority compared to legacy and proprietary systems. EDB delivers our customers the most complete and robust Postgres solutions in the industry, from Postgres in self-managed private clouds to fully-managed public clouds. This has resulted in Postgres becoming the most prolifically deployed database in modern data architectures.

EDB is uniquely positioned to address the complex needs of enterprise-grade workloads, delivering distributed Postgres, unmatched Oracle compatibility, extreme high availability, and support for multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments – all with support from the company that knows Postgres better than any other.

EDB’s commitment to training and education also empowers enterprise teams to effectively leverage Postgres capabilities. Through collaboration with enterprises and tailored solutions, EDB solidifies Postgres as a compelling choice for businesses seeking a powerful, reliable, and adaptable open source database solution.

With many database options available in the market, what are the unique advantages that Postgres, along with EDB’s solutions and services, offers to businesses?

Postgres is the database for enterprise applications. Purpose built for general use, Postgres powers enterprises across a wider variety and broader spectrum of applications than any other database, making it the economic game changer for data. There will always be specialty applications that require specialty databases. But for an enterprise standard, developers and IT executives rely on Postgres for the widest range of support.

With EDB, the power of Postgres is significantly enhanced to deliver unmatched flexibility, scalability, and cost savings. Our capabilities in Oracle compatibility, distributed Postgres and support for multi cloud and hybrid cloud environments are true differentiators, contributing to EDB’s growth as a top-4 fastest growing DBMS vendor, according to Gartner. We have the largest concentration of Postgres technologists and developers and are uniquely positioned to support the complex data demands of mission-critical applications. More than a vendor, we are an indispensable business partner for our customers.

We continue to champion innovations that deliver greater value for our customers, including:

• Portability to run Postgres everywhere with agile deployment options and the ability to power the same Postgres in any cloud
• Geo distributed data for high availability with EDB Postgres Distributed supports mission-critical applications with 99.995% availability
• Oracle migration  and deep compatibility solutions remove the need to rewrite queries when moving to Postgres
• Instant deployment of fully-managed Postgres clusters on any primary cloud platform, either via customer or EDB BigAnimal™’s cloud accounts
• Extended security and improved risk mitigation through Transparent Data Encryption(TDE)
• 24×7 monitoring, enhanced security measures, network configuration, automatic backups and expert support from the leaders of enterprise-grade Postgres

Could you share some examples of real-world cases (India Region) where EDB software and services have helped companies improve their database management and operations?

EDB also has a dominant workforce to support the local needs that spread across the product engineering, support and professional services based out of India. With more than 300 dedicated developers, and more than 30 percent of Postgres code contributions, EDB is one of the major contributors to Postgres in this open source technology. One real-world use case where EDB’s solutions helped companies improve their database management and operations is, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, a private life insurance company in India that provides insurance products for investment planning and financial security.

The Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance was having issues with their legacy core insurance platform system due to it limiting the deployment of new capabilities and services and the rising support and licensing costs had become untenable. The company needed a new system that was built on a modern, open platform and that would not compromise on performance. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance deployed EDB Postgres Advanced, our enterprise class PostgreSQL offering, with operational support. We worked with our partner Chemtrols Infotech to create the design needed to meet the performance and business requirements of the organization and assisted with its deployment.

As a result, The Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance had a seamless transition with no service interruption and their customers were not even aware of the major upgrade. After this transition, PostgreSQL effortlessly handled both regular loads and seasonal periods of higher transactions and the higher performance made it possible to deliver key business statistics in real time and support data driven decisions for the company. This change also significantly reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) with no compromise in database performance.

Open-source technologies can sometimes raise concerns about support and security. How does EDB address these concerns for its clients while working with an open-source database like Postgres?

 EDB is the first company to deliver Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) for Postgres with Oracle compatibility as well as flexible deployment and unmatched management and support for enterprises. TDE acts as a powerful enhancement for cloud storage security, as it encrypts data at the database level. This approach empowers database administrators (DBAs) with control and authority over data access while thwarting unauthorized entry. EDB’s comprehensive solutions assist organizations in establishing resilient architectures that effectively mitigate threats and substantially diminish the risk of security breaches. This significance is underscored by Gartner’s 2023 CIO and Technology Executive Agenda, which highlights that information security remains a top concern for IT decision-makers.

The Postgres community is dynamic and rapidly growing. As one of the top contributors, how does EDB foster collaboration and innovation within this community?

As one of the major contributors to Postgres in this open-source technology, EDB employs several strategies to foster collaboration and fuel innovation within this ecosystem. EDB actively engages in open and transparent communication with the broader community. By sharing insights, knowledge, and expertise, EDB encourages open dialogue and the exchange of ideas among community members.

EDB contributes code, enhancements, and bug fixes to Postgres source code. These contributions not only improve the overall quality of the software but also demonstrate EDB’s commitment to advancing the community’s collective goals. A few of the projects that we have recently contributed to include: pgAdmin, Barman, repmgr, and pgBouncer.

One of our most exciting developments in PostgreSQL 15 was introducing the MERGE command in 2022, which makes it easier for enterprises to migrate from expensive, legacy databases to open source. We also improved database security features, enhanced backup and recovery options and advanced logical replication capabilities. EDB has always worked closely with the Postgres community and continued to do so in this upgrade.

Can you discuss the role of EDB in terms of providing training, support, and resources for organizations looking to adopt Postgres as their primary database solution?

Recently, EDB began offering all of our -on-demand training resources for free. As of spring of 2023, EDB has trained more than 30,000 Postgres users and has helped more than 2,500 become Postgres certified and was ranked one of the best Postgres certification programs by Datamation. Empowering developers, database administrators, and architects to unlock the full potential of Postgres. The free modules are designed to cater to different skill levels, all the way from beginners to advanced users, and also cover a wide range of topics including database administration, SQL programming, and application development. Our training is delivered through a combination of online courses, webinars, and interactive workshops, making it accessible and convenient for anyone to learn at their own pace. These trainings and classes also help Postgres professionals prepare for EDB’s certification exams for both EDB Postgres Advanced Server and PostgreSQL.

EDB offers comprehensive training and documentation to empower customers with the knowledge and skills required to optimize their experience with the new database system. By combining robust migration tools, meticulous planning, expert guidance, and ongoing support, EDB strives to make the migration process as efficient and painless as possible for its customers.

How does EDB assist organizations in migrating from their existing database systems to PostgreSQL-based solutions seamlessly?

Our business strategy, along with our Go-To-Market (GTM) approach, has been crafted to eliminate barriers for our enterprise customers. The heart of our product strategy is focused on three primary drivers: Oracle compatibility, implementing distributed Postgres, and providing expert tools and extensions for Postgres including capabilities for hybrid and multi cloud.

Earlier this year, we introduced the EDB Guaranteed Postgres Migration Program, which presents a risk-free pathway for companies to transition from Oracle to Postgres. This shift not only offers potential savings of up to 80% on software, support, and maintenance costs but also allows a seamless transformation, as we ensure that EDB Postgres mirrors the look, feel, and functionality of Oracle. This means customers won’t have to start from scratch or rewrite applications. Whether they are aiming to cut database management expenses, enhance business flexibility, drive cloud innovation, or modernize data infrastructure, our Oracle-compatible solution is designed to simplify our customer migration process.

As our customers migrate from Oracle, they gain access to tools and enhancements that elevate performance, fortify security, and deliver the promises of cloud technology. Our most recent product release introduced substantial improvements to EDB BigAnimal, enabling immediate deployment across leading cloud platforms. This release addresses the pressing demand from our customers to swiftly construct and deploy Postgres clusters on any major cloud, either within the customer’s account or through BigAnimal’s dedicated cloud account. This process is streamlined, avoiding complex and protracted sales procedures. Additional product innovations include a focus on security and compliance through Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), as well as efforts to improve operational resiliency and scalability through extreme high availability.