Google Cloud Challenges Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM with AlloyDB
New platform melds PostgreSQL with Google's enterprise-class storage infrastructure & integrated AI/ML
Google Cloud has introduced a new database, AlloyDB, that combines the popular PostgreSQL with “the best” of Google’s cloud infrastructure.
Google is positioning AlloyDB as a way to modernize “proprietary, legacy” databases. Those are code words for Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM.
It’s no coincidence that Google Cloud is going after those vendors in particular, along with AWS. Those companies are Google’s biggest competitors at the top of the $80 billion database market.
According to Gartner, the top 5 database providers, based on revenue, are as follows:
Microsoft - 24%
AWS - 23.9%
Oracle - 20.6%
Google Cloud - 6.5%
IBM - 5.6%
As Microsoft and AWS fight it out at the top of the chart, the more interesting match up in my view is #3 Oracle vs. #4 Google Cloud. Oracle’s market share is declining, while Google Cloud’s is rising. They’re on a collision course.
In that context, Google Cloud’s AlloyDB is more than just a reimagined and more capable version of PostgreSQL. It’s a strategic thrust at Oracle and the latest development in an escalating battle between the two companies.
The one-upmanship has been building for months.
May 2021 - Oracle introduced MySQL HeatWave, a cloud-native, open-source database that supports both transactions and analytics workloads.
May 2021 - Google Cloud published a blog post on how to migrate from Oracle to Google’s Cloud SQL/PostgreSQL.
March 2022 - Oracle’s Larry Ellison revealed that HeatWave would run on AWS and Microsoft Azure, but he didn’t mention Google Cloud.
April 2022 - Google Cloud announced a preview of its Database Migration Service for Oracle-to-Cloud SQL/PostgreSQL schema and data migrations. “You can start migrating your Oracle workloads today,” said Google Cloud.
May 2022 - Google Cloud launches AlloyDB, targeted at the Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM installed bases.
For more on this face-off, see Oracle’s webpage on Oracle Cloud vs. Google Cloud. And Google Cloud’s Bare Metal Solution for Oracle.
To be sure, Google Cloud isn’t limiting itself to Oracle replacements. It’s going after Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2 upgrades, as well.
And AWS is in Google Cloud’s sights too. AlloyDB was twice as fast as AWS’s PostgreSQL-compatible Amazon Aurora for transactional workloads, according to Google Cloud benchmarks.
So Google Cloud aims to chip away at each of its competitors.
Combined elements for greater strength
AlloyDB, in preview now, is an interesting new offering in a crowded database market. There are now 800+ database management systems in the world, according to Carnegie Mellon University. (See post below.)
AlloyDB stands out for several reasons. It melds PostgreSQL with Google Cloud’s sophisticated storage infrastructure. (Hence, the name “Alloy,” which refers to a combination of elements for greater strength.) The injection of Google Cloud’s scale-out and AI/ML technologies makes AlloyDB something dev teams may want to consider when they are evaluating cloud-native, open-source databases.
The beefed up AlloyDB is designed for “top tier” enterprise workloads, according to Google Cloud. The separation of compute and storage, or disaggregation, is what makes that possible.
AlloyDB employs an Intelligent Database Storage Engine that’s based on Google’s Colossus distributed file system. These engineering modifications eliminate I/O bottlenecks.
You can check out this article by Ravi Murthy and Gurmeet Goindi for a detailed overview of the storage architecture.
Why three PostgreSQL databases?
When I was briefed on AlloyDB, one of my first questions for Google Cloud was, "Why another PostgreSQL database?”
After all, Google Cloud already offers Postgres-compatible Cloud SQL, as well as Cloud Spanner with a PostgreSQL interface.
It’s a testament to the popularity of PostgreSQL, which ranks #4 among hundreds of databases in DB Engines’ popularity ranking. In fact, PostgreSQL was DB-Engines’ database of the year in 2020, 2018, and 2017. (It’s worth noting that MySQL, which Oracle is pushing in the form of HeatWave, was DBMS of the year in 2019.)
“PostgreSQL is becoming the de facto database for all new enterprise applications built in the cloud, and also on premises, over the last five years or so,” said Gurmeet Goindi, director of product management, in our briefing.
So what’s new and different with AlloyDB?
Google Cloud explains that “standard PostgreSQL” does not have the scale, performance, or reliability required for enterprise workloads. By “standard PostgreSQL,” Google Cloud means plain vanilla, unmodified PostgreSQL. (The industry standard version of PostgreSQL, now in release 14, is developed by the PostgreSQL Global Development Group.)
As mentioned earlier, AWS has its own spin on PostgreSQL with Aurora. And there are other PostgreSQL databases from Cockroach Labs, EDB, Yugabyte, and others. So AlloyDB is one of many PostgreSQL databases out there.
Above all, Google Cloud touts AlloyDB as being ideal for database migration, which has become a megatrend as IT teams move terabytes and petabytes from data centers to the cloud. Google Cloud refers to this as re-platforming.
AlloyDB highlights
AlloyDB is loaded with features that give PostgreSQL enterprise chops.
Support for both transactions and analytics workloads
Fully managed backups & 99.99% availability SLA
Integrated with Google’s Vertex AI, to build and train ML models
4X faster than standard PostgreSQL at transactions; 100X faster at queries
Supports existing PostgreSQL applications as-is with no code changes
No licensing or I/O charges
A Renaissance in databases
Not long ago, I wrote a blog post describing a Renaissance in database technologies (see below). The trends include data growing in size and complexity, the emergence of managed cloud services, and the challenges of database migrations.
AlloyDB addresses all of those and more. I’m sure it won’t be long before Oracle and the rest of the pack respond with innovations and new offerings of their own.
Because even as the legacy database market fades, the cloud database market is bursting with activity.