Featured article by Michael Meskes, Chief Information Officer at Instaclustr
Instaclustr’s recent acquisition of credativ is a welcome development for any enterprise looking to join the PostgreSQL momentum – and particularly so for those who want to pair the relational database with other powerful open source data technologies. As a company, Instaclustr focuses on providing pure open source data-layer technologies such as Apache Cassandra and Apache Kafka that are optimised for performance, cost and security, and free from any license fees or lock-in associated with proprietary or “open core” solutions. It’s open source the way open source should be.
However, Instaclustr had until recently offered only NoSQL data technologies. With the credativ acquisition, Instaclustr has expanded to include deep expertise in relational database technologies, especially with PostgreSQL. Credativ’s team has joined Instaclustr similarly aligned in its commitment to an unadulterated open source ethos, and shares a customer-first approach to delivering enterprise-ready data-layer solutions.
As a trend, enterprises are increasingly turning to data strategies that can combine the strengths of Postgres, Cassandra, and Kafka, constructing a “three-legged stool” that can offer solid support across their full range of data needs. Instaclustr is now fully capable of providing this data backbone of complementary technologies and do it without any commercialised versions. Organisations seeking support in pursuing complete data-layer modernisation initiatives, or simply offloading major pieces of their data layer operations, can confidently engage with the comprehensive pure open source offerings available on Instaclustr’s managed platform.
Why PostgreSQL?
Postgres itself has made tremendous strides as an enterprise-grade database in recent years. The database’s advanced features for handling structured data have earned it adoption in mission-critical environments across industries, supporting organisations from banks to government entities to global-scale retailers.
Postgres is a powerful solution for prototyping as well, due to its versatile query and schema options. Organisations can easily support new services and applications, without a need to be certain about required datastore functionality going in. Postgres is lightweight and simple to implement, but requires expert management to optimise performance and ensure disaster recovery at scale. At the same time, the role of a managed services provider includes helping to guide customers to the correct technology for the needs of each particular application.
Instaclustr’s expanding managed platform now enhances these use case-based optimisations. For example, “Just Use Postgres” is all-to-common advice for organisations implementing a prototype service with full-text search capabilities. If such a service later evolves to become mission critical, Instaclustr could easily introduce the Open Distro of Elasticsearch to optimise the customer’s utilisation of available open source technologies.
Operationalising PostgreSQL expertise
The credativ acquisition rather elegantly combines a wealth of Postgres knowledge with the ability to effectively deploy and manage Postgres at a high degree of execution. credativ’s team brings open source experts with impeccable Postgres credentials. At the same time, Instaclustr’s platform features a set of curated open source technologies that play well together, enabling easy deployments and efficient operation at scale. Now joined, Instaclustr is positioned to fully tap into credativ’s expertise to accelerate Postgres deployments, while offering businesses a greater and more strategic breadth of open source options at the data layer.
Pure open source advantages
With Instaclustr and credativ’s stated commitment to 100% open source technologies, enterprises can rest assured that their code is fully portable and remains under their ownership. While these may seem like obvious statements, any business that’s fallen victim to the vendor and technical lock-in practiced by open core providers can assure that they are not. Vendors hawking variants of technologies altered to be open source in name only are a danger to be avoided, and working with Instaclustr is a great way of doing so.
Bottom line
With the addition of its new Postgres expertise, Instaclustr is even more capable than ever of shaping versatile and successful open source data layer strategies for customers, and ensuring they reap the full benefits of the optimal technologies available today.
