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Doc databases are an more and more vital kind of expertise within the gen AI period.
A doc database is a kind of NoSQL database that doesn’t depend on rows and columns like a standard relational database, as a substitute it makes use of the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format. There are a number of distributors that develop doc databases together with MongoDB, which now has a proprietary closed supply expertise. In an effort to open up the market, Microsoft started growing its personal doc database generally known as DocumentDB and made it open supply in January of this yr. This week, DocumentDB is transferring to the Linux Basis the place it has additionally gained the backing of Microsoft’s cloud rivals AWS and Google.
The transfer creates the primary vendor-neutral open supply various to MongoDB that has the potential to avoid wasting enterprises cash, whereas additionally eliminating database vendor lock-in. Doc databases are vital for AI apps for duties comparable to chats, context and reminiscence.
“AI apps are all about semi-structured information and doc databases are goal constructed for it,” Kirill Gavrylyuk, vp at Microsoft and DocumentDB’s main architect, advised VentureBeat “However there isn’t any open supply customary engine for doc databases, like what PostgreSQL is for relational databases.”
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Delivering the promise of open supply doc database on the Linux Basis
Microsoft initially launched the open-source DocumentDB challenge in January of 2025.
The challenge was hosted throughout the Microsoft org on GitHub and had been producing broad trade curiosity over the course of the yr. Having an open-source challenge isn’t nearly code or licensing, it’s additionally about contributions and group.
“Below the Linux Basis’s governance, DocumentDB will profit from vendor neutrality and broader collaboration,” Gavrylyuk stated.
Microsoft isn’t simply dumping code both. Gavrylyuk emphasised that Microsoft will proceed to take a position closely within the challenge and can proceed to have robust illustration within the Technical Steering Committee to assist form the imaginative and prescient and roadmap of the challenge.
“By becoming a member of the Linux Basis, a impartial basis, we’re aiming to be extra inviting to the developer group to contribute and form the route of the challenge,” Gavrylyuk stated. “Furthermore, via the Linux Basis, we wish to present an assurance to the developer group that this challenge is right here to remain, open supply, and can proceed to maneuver ahead.”
What’s inside DocumentDB and why it issues for enterprise information professionals
Except for its open-source nature, there’s one other vital aspect that makes the database notably engaging to enterprises. As a substitute of being a completely new database expertise, it’s based mostly on the open-source PostgreSQL database.
PostgreSQL has emerged to turn out to be one of the extensively deployed open supply databases of all time and has newfound adoption within the AI period. DocumentDB features a PostgreSQL extension that brings first-class BSON (Binary JSON) datatype assist to PostgreSQL. It additionally integrates an extension that provides doc model queries assist to PostgreSQL and index administration. The PostgreSQL base implies that enterprises can profit from PostgreSQL’s mature ecosystem of instruments, monitoring techniques and backup options. The PostgreSQL basis additionally supplies ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Sturdiness) compliance and confirmed replication capabilities that handle enterprise considerations about information consistency.
DocumentDB additionally has a gateway that makes the database suitable with open supply MongoDB drivers for any language. Gavrylyuk famous that Doc DB doesn’t but have full compatibility with all the pieces in MongoDB, however there’s extra work to return.
“Full compatibility with MongoDB drivers is a vital purpose of the challenge as mirrored within the Linux Basis DocumentDB constitution,” he stated. “This coupled with the true open supply vendor impartial governance of the challenge will assist the broader doc database ecosystem thrive, benefitting all people within the ecosystem, together with MongoDB Inc.”
Simply to be clear, Amazon DocumentDB isn’t the identical factor
Whereas Amazon is among the many backers of the brand new Linux Basis DocumentDB challenge, it really already has its personal DocumentDB database.
The Amazon DocumentDB database predates the Microsoft-led expertise, having been first introduced in 2019. Amazon DocumentDB not too long ago debuted a serveless service that goals to speed up agentic AI.
Whereas the DocumentDB challenge, stewarded by Linux Basis, has the same identify to Amazon DocumentDB, it makes use of totally different software program underneath the hood.
“Amazon DocumentDB is a MongoDB API-compatible doc database constructed by AWS,” Rashim Gupta, Sr. Supervisor, Product Administration at AWS, advised VentureBeat. “The Linux Basis challenge, alternatively, whereas additionally being MongoDB suitable, makes use of an open supply engine that’s constructed as an extension on PostgreSQL. It is a totally different engine than the one utilized in Amazon DocumentDB.”
Gupta famous that AWS will proceed to put money into each Amazon DocumentDB and open supply DocumentDB akin to the way it invests in Amazon OpenSearch Service and group OpenSearch. Shifting ahead, he stated that AWS will begin contributing Amazon DocumentDB improvements to the open supply challenge and undertake options and capabilities from the open supply DocumentDB engine to its managed Amazon DocumentDB service over time.
AI workloads drive pressing want for database alternate options
The timing displays rising enterprise demand for doc databases to energy AI functions.
The challenge already incorporates Microsoft Analysis’s DiskANN (Disk Approximate Nearest Neighbor) vector indexing algorithms and semantic operators developed for PostgreSQL’s AI capabilities.
This provides DocumentDB instant aggressive benefits for AI workloads whereas avoiding the licensing prices that may doubtlessly make proprietary alternate options costly for data-intensive functions.
“Microsoft closely invests in open supply AI contributions throughout the board,” Gavrylyuk stated. “We’re investing within the AI capabilities of DocumentDB in addition to the broader PostgreSQL ecosystem with precedence.”
What it means for enterprise information groups
For enterprises trying to scale back database vendor dependence, DocumentDB supplies a strategic hedge in opposition to potential closed supply proprietary expertise. IT leaders ought to start evaluating DocumentDB in improvement environments to grasp migration complexity for his or her particular workloads.
Organizations constructing new AI functions have the chance to architect round DocumentDB from the beginning, avoiding potential closed-source expertise lock-in solely whereas gaining PostgreSQL’s confirmed enterprise reliability and ecosystem advantages.
For enterprises trying to cleared the path in AI, this information means entry to cutting-edge doc database capabilities with out the seller lock-in dangers which have traditionally constrained database technique choices.
