Distributed PostgreSQL is a formidable force in the realm of deploying globally distributed applications that are always on, always available, and always fast. Combining flexibility, familiarity, and the rich feature set of PostgreSQL with the scalability, availability, and performance boons of distributed database systems solidify distributed PostgreSQL’s existence as an application powerhouse.
To investigate the knowledge and tools needed to develop strong, distributed applications with PostgreSQL, Phillip Merrick, co-founder and CEO at pgEdge, and Curtis Myzie, head of cloud engineering at pgEdge, joined DBTA’s webinar, Rapid Deployment of Globally Distributed PostgreSQL for Low Latency and Unbeatable Availability, offering webinar viewers an in-depth foray into the world of distributed PostgreSQL.
Merrick identified an overarching problem for many modern developer teams: Application users are globally distributed, while applications are mostly not. This is fundamentally because databases underpinning these apps are difficult to globally distribute, particularly if it’s a relational database.
The pain that this problem causes is significant, according to Merrick, resulting in:
- High latency causing slow page load times, and therefore, lost customers
- Downtime when a single cloud region goes down
- Downtime for maintenance activities (i.e., upgrades)
They further offered some troubling statistics, explaining that, according to research conducted by Google, 53% of mobile users abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, a one second delay in page load time can result in a 7% reduction in conversions, 11% fewer page views, and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.
This is simultaneously happening as Postgres becomes the most dominant database choice among developers. Despite being used by 60% of the top 400 SaaS companies, no open and supported distributed Postgres exists.
This was until pgEdge entered the scene, offering 100% open, fully distributed PostgreSQL that is optimized for:
- The network edge
- Multi-region deployments
- Multi-cloud deployments
- Hybrid-cloud deployments
- AI inference at the edge
Offering advancements in low latency, high availability, and being edge friendly, pgEdge is engineered to support distributed PostgreSQL environments to meet the most difficult demands of applications that exist today.
Merrick then introduced the pgEdge Cloud Developer Edition, a serverless, fully distributed Postgres, now available in preview. As a serverless innovation, users need not worry about provisioning the infrastructure, allowing enterprises to rapidly deploy a distributed Postgres database cluster in 90 seconds. The solution also offers:
- Pre-built clusters spanning North America, Europe, and Asia
- Client code integrations for Javascript/Typescript, Go, and Python
- Integrations for Cloudflare Workers (available now), as well as Vercel and Fastly (coming soon)
- Latency-based routing that automatically connects to the nearest available node
- Free 12 GB storage across 3 nodes
Complementing this introduction, Myzie walked webinar viewers through a detailed, live demo of pgEdge Cloud Developer Edition to showcase its array of benefits.
To view the full discussion regarding distributed PostgreSQL and pgEdge, you can view an archived version of the webinar here.