Couchbase brings new database vectors to AI powered adaptive applications

Couchbase is updating its namesake NoSQL database platform with new capabilities to accelerate the development of AI-powered adaptive applications

The big new addition to Couchbase is support for vector search, which allows similarity queries using vector representations of data. The use of vectors is increasingly common in generative AI applications and has spawned a host of pure play vector database vendors such as Pinecone, as well as traditional database vendors including Oracle, that support vectors as a data type.  Couchbase aims to differentiate itself by positioning its support of vectors as part of its overall platform approach which spans from cloud to on-premises data centers, and even on mobile and edge devices. The new vector support follows Couchbase’s introduction of an assistive gen AI feature in 2023 known as Cappella IQ.

“We’re coming out with vector search and in typical Couchbase fashion, we’re doing that in a very differentiated way,” Matt Cain, Couchbase president and CEO, told VentureBeat.  “We’ve implemented natively within our search engine, so the same SQL++ query language enables you to do vector search, but also allows for our other hybrid search capabilities.”

Credit: Couchbase

Couchbase continues to grow beyond its NoSQL roots

The latest updates for Couchbase continue the evolution of the widely deployed database technology.

Couchbase got its start as an open-source NoSQL database technology and has added capabilities in recent years that are commonly found in relational database technologies. The company went public in 2021, on the NASDAQ and now trades under the symbol BASE.  Since going public Cain said that Couchbase has expanded significantly thanks to its Capella DBaaS cloud offerings and with the rise of gen AI is now expecting even more demand.

“We look at AI as probably the greatest market transition the world has ever seen,” Cain said. “It’s incredibly exciting for us as we talk to our customers and understand the types of applications that they are envisioning.”

According to Cain, a major differentiator for Couchbase’s vector capabilities is support for mobile and edge computing which he expects will be a key deployment target for many organizations. 

“When we think about AI-driven use cases whether it’s next-generation e-commerce,  healthcare, travel, entertainment or connected homes, those things are going to happen at the edge,” Cain said. “Our architecture for a long time has been cloud to edge native and we fundamentally believe that this market transition of AI is going to happen at the edge.”

AI powered adaptive applications need data

Organizations around the world are already using Couchbase as an operational database. The addition of vector support is intended to enable those organizations to use the data they are already collecting and have in Couchbase to power what Cain referred to as, AI-powered adaptive applications.

Cain explained that AI-powered adaptive applications are extremely personalized applications that perform exceptionally well providing users with situational and contextual insights that would otherwise otherwise be unavailable without the power of AI.

“When we think about how we enable these adaptive applications for enterprises, first and foremost, those applications are dependent on data sources,” Cain said. ” We have to provide developer tools to open those up and create great experiences and then we have to be mindful of platform capabilities.”

He added that the Couchbase database can handle both structured and unstructured data in the cloud and at the edge and put all the data together securely and in real time to meet any number of use cases.

“People are really excited about AI. but then you’ve got to go the next step and think, well, where is the data coming from?” Cain said.