June 2023 Summaries

In June 2023, Aiven published several open source articles and tutorials. These include image recognition using Python, OpenCV, OpenAI CLIP, and pgvector; adding caching to a PostgreSQL app with Redis; creating a Spring Boot application with a MySQL backend; and migrating a MySQL database from one cloud to another. Aiven offers a free tier for users to try out these tutorials and its products.

In June 2023, Aiven Developer Center published new articles and tutorials on open source databases and streaming. Topics included image recognition with Python, OpenCV, OpenAI CLIP, and pgvector; adding caching to PostgreSQL using Redis; creating a Spring Boot application with MySQL backend; and migrating a MySQL database from one cloud to another. Aiven offers a free tier for users to try out tutorials and its products.

Aiven has announced the availability of the pgvector extension in Aiven for PostgreSQL, allowing users to store vectorized data and perform similarity searches with SQL. This feature enables organizations to bridge the gap between Machine Learning and transactional data, unlocking new capabilities on top of customer data. The use cases range from recommendation systems to anomaly detection, Natural Language Processing pipelines, object detection, and facial recognition. By using pgvector, users can add vector search functionality to their PostgreSQL database without needing additional databases or moving data elsewhere.

Aiven, an open-source data platform company, has welcomed Angie Byron as its new Director of Community. With a background in video games and punk music, Angie discovered her passion for programming through a chatroom vulnerability. She has held significant roles at Acquia and MongoDB before joining Aiven. As the new director, she will focus on building a community around open-source data infrastructure with Aiven at its core. The Community Team is part of Aiven's Developer Relations team, and Angie aims to connect users with knowledge and expertise to solve their problems and partner with them on initiatives. She has also emphasized the importance of embracing Aiven's values and learning about the company through various resources provided during her onboarding process.

The Aiven blog post provides a detailed tutorial on enhancing PostgreSQL web applications with caching using Valkey, a key-value store compatible with the Redis serialization protocol. The guide walks readers through building a simple Python web app that interacts with a PostgreSQL database, employing FastAPI for web application development, and integrating caching to optimize database read performance. It covers setting up a Python virtual environment, managing PostgreSQL and Valkey services through Aiven, and using tools like curl and psql for database interaction. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of caching for improving application performance, explains cache invalidation strategies, and introduces the concept of time-to-live for cache entries to ensure data accuracy. Additionally, it explores the use of Python decorators to streamline the caching logic in the application, demonstrating how to handle caching for multiple values, including total order counts and per-customer order counts. The post concludes with recommendations for additional resources and best practices for managing caching in production environments.

Aiven has introduced new enhancements to its fully-managed Apache Flink service, including integration with multiple versions of Apache Kafka and a CDC connector for PostgreSQL. The latest release allows users to connect their Flink jobs to various types of Apache Kafka clusters, whether managed by Aiven or not. Additionally, the CDC connector for PostgreSQL enables real-time data processing without the need to migrate entire Kafka infrastructures to Aiven. These updates aim to improve efficiency and encourage data sharing across teams within an organization.

Aiven for Apache Flink has added new features in Q2 2023, including integration with multiple versions of Apache Kafka and a CDC connector for PostgreSQL. The service allows users to run Apache Flink applications in the cloud of their choice and simplifies using SQL and Table API for unified queries on real-time data. Aiven for Apache Flink can now read/write data from/to instances of Apache Kafka, whether managed by Aiven or not, improving efficiency and encouraging collaboration across teams. Additionally, a CDC connector for PostgreSQL has been introduced, enabling users to stream changes in their PostgreSQL instance as events in real-time and pass them on to other systems and operators.

Aiven has announced the latest batch of startups joining its Cluster Startup Program, which aims to support emerging companies by offering access to their open source data platform. The program provides up to $100,000 credits for each startup, expert technical support, a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, and opportunities to participate in events and media appearances together with Aiven. Among the startups joining this cohort are Timeplus, Matchmade, Alvin, Resourcify, Vest, Layer, Capply, and Sidos.

Schibsted Media Group, the largest media group in Scandinavia, relies on high-performance IT systems and rapid data throughput to maintain its successful model of offering financial services and online marketplaces throughout Europe's Nordic region. The company uses an Apache Kafka® cluster hosted in Amazon Web Services for event tracking and transferring event data between various applications at speed. However, as demands increased, the performance of the Kafka platform was put under increasing pressure. Schibsted switched to Aiven for Apache Kafka®, running on AWS, which has resulted in significant improvements in stability and resilience, even during periods of very high traffic. With Aiven managing the system on its behalf, Schibsted now benefits from 99.99% uptime, providing reassurance to Eriksson's team that the platform can keep pace with the business and scale as required.

Alessandro Barone, Team Lead People Operations North America and Asia-Pacific, and LQBTQ+ community lead at Aiven, shares his journey to embracing differences and being true to oneself. Ale's passion for tech led him to a career in HR, where he strives to create equitable policies for marginalized groups. As the ERG Lead for Proud Crabs at Aiven, Ale has introduced a gender transition support program and continues to make Aiven an inclusive workplace. His commitment to creating psychological safety for colleagues aligns with Aiven's values of Ownership, Courage, and Openness.