DataStax Sets up SG HQ
Data management firm DataStax this week announced the opening of a new office in Singapore. DataStax says this expansion reinforces its commitment to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market and enables the company to meet the growing global demand for Astra DB.
Cassandra as-a-service
A data stack for building modern data apps, Astra is essentially a database-as-a-service (DBaaS) offering built on Apache Cassandra.
Apache Cassandra is an open-source NoSQL database known for its ability to handle large amounts of data distributed across multiple nodes for reliability and lightning-fast access. It is deployed by many of the largest tech firms such as Facebook – Cassandra was originally developed there – Apple, Instagram, Spotify, and Netflix, among others.
Astra is available as a serverless solution that lets users get started quickly without the need to specify or provision a set capacity of nodes. Customers pay only for what they use and can opt to have nodes deployed within Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure – or a mix of all three.
Base credits offered as part of all plans mean that usage volume of up to 30 million reads, 4.5 million writes, and 40GB of storage each month is free. According to the sign-up page here, no credit card is required to get started with Astra.
When CDOTrends tried to create a database, two cloud platforms Google Cloud (Mumbai, India) and Microsoft Azure (australiaeast) are located within APAC, though Amazon Web Services (AWS) was not available.
In response to a media query, a DataStrax spokesperson said: “We have the capability to add Singapore or any other region within a few days. DataStax will continue to evaluate this based on the demand from our enterprises and developers.”
Separately, DataStax also offers a self-managed solution called DataStax Enterprise for businesses to roll out their own on-premises or cloud-native deployments.
“DataStax continues to see rapid adoption of Cassandra in a form factor which is easy to operate, developer ready, cloud-delivered, and presents a dramatic reduction in TCO. We recently launched Astra DB, which is the first serverless deployment based on Apache Cassandra that works on all three major public clouds,” said Deb Dutta, general manager of DataStax for the APAC region.
“I am thrilled to join DataStax to help connect developers and enterprises in APAC to the power of Apache Cassandra by engaging, enabling, and empowering them,” he said.
DataStax recently received an undisclosed amount of new funding from Goldman Sachs, and its entry into APAC is part of a strategic move to tap into the market opportunity here. According to a Research and Markets report, APAC is projected to have the highest growth rate for the cloud database and DBaaS market over the forecast period of 2020 to 2025.
Image credit: iStockphoto/artisteer
