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WTF Is a Vector Database: A Beginner's Guide!

Pavan Belagatti on August 25, 2023

In the age of burgeoning data complexity and high-dimensional information, traditional databases often fall short when it comes to efficiently hand...
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Kudzai Murimi

l am not a beginner but you made to understand it in am different way to what l grasped before this article. Mind-blown

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Pavan Belagatti

Thank you!

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Ben Halpern

Great post!

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Pavan Belagatti

Thanks Ben!

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Sacha Wharton

Brilliantly done, I certainly have a much better understanding now.

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Pavan Belagatti

Thank you. Glad it helped you.

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Sacha Wharton

Pavan, I thoroughly enjoy your articles and I have learnt about some great tech from them.

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Pavan Belagatti

My pleasure 😊

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Gowri Sankar Pokuri

Thank you

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Pavan Belagatti

Glad you like the article. Thanks to you!

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Vijay Joshi

This is so Cool

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Pavan Belagatti

Thank you!

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Md. Abdullah Al Ahasan

Thanks

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sadeghhoushmand

Simple and useful
Thank you, Pavan and ChatGPT as well.

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Kevin

Great article! I’ve noticed some interesting trends emerging in the world of vector databases:

Scalability and Performance Boosts

As data continues to explode, scalability and performance have become top priorities. Vector databases are stepping up with new ways to handle larger datasets more efficiently. For example, Milvus, an open-source vector database, uses a distributed architecture to spread data across multiple nodes, making it easier to manage huge datasets. This not only boosts performance but also ensures the system is always available and resilient, making it a solid choice for enterprise-level projects.

Seamless Integration with Cloud and Data Processing

Another trend is how vector databases are becoming more integrated with cloud services and data processing frameworks. Big cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure now offer managed vector database services that make scaling and deployment a breeze. Plus, they’re integrating with tools like Apache Spark and TensorFlow, making it easier to build machine learning and big data applications. Take AWS, for example—they’ve added vector search to their Elasticsearch Service, so you can easily run similarity searches on your cloud data, all while benefiting from the cloud’s scalability and reliability.

Standardization and Interoperability

As more organizations adopt vector databases, there’s a growing push for standardization and interoperability. Efforts are underway to create standard interfaces and protocols that make it easier for different vector databases to work together. This means you can pick the best tools for your needs without worrying about whether they’ll play nice with each other. One example is the development of the Vector Similarity Search API, which aims to create a unified way to perform similarity searches across various vector databases, simplifying the process of integrating multiple systems.

For more insights into the potential of vector databases in AI and machine learning, I recommend reading this article by my colleague Jatin Malhotra: scalablepath.com/back-end/vector-d...

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