Microsoft launched a number of updates to its database choices at its Construct 2024 convention.

One of many main updates to its database choices consists of the addition of vector search to Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL.

Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL, which is a non-relational database service, is part of the bigger Azure Cosmos DB database providing, a distributed database which implements a set of various consistency fashions enabling customers to commerce off efficiency in opposition to latency of their purposes.

Essentially, NoSQL databases cast off SQL databases’ constraints of information sorts and consistency with a view to obtain extra velocity, flexibility, and scale.

Azure Cosmos DB helps working with completely different knowledge fashions, together with APIs for MongoDB and Apache Cassandra. The database additionally has a taste of PostgreSQL.

Final 12 months at Construct, Microsoft had launched vector search to Cosmos DB, constructing on the corporate’s Cosmos DB for MongoDB vCore service.

The vector search in Cosmos DB for NoSQL, in keeping with the corporate, is powered by DiskANN—a collection of scalable approximate nearest neighbor search algorithms that help real-time modifications.

As well as, the corporate additionally made the Azure Database for PostgreSQL extension for Azure AI typically obtainable with a view to carry AI capabilities to knowledge in PostgreSQL.

“This permits builders preferring PostgreSQL to plug knowledge immediately into Azure AI for a simplified path to leverage LLMs and construct wealthy PostgreSQL generative AI experiences,” the corporate stated in an announcement.

Moreover, the corporate stated it’s working so as to add an embeddings era function inside its Azure Database for PostgreSQL providing. The brand new function, which is at present in preview, can generate embeddings inside the database.

Additional, the corporate stated it was including extra capabilities to Copilot inside databases to assist builders, together with including the flexibility to offer summaries of technical documentation in response to person questions inside Azure Database for MySQL.

In March, the corporate introduced a personal preview of Copilot in Azure SQL Database with a view to provide pure language to SQL conversion, together with self-help for database administration.