IBM and AWS Launch Cloud Database for AI Workloads

At AWS re:Invent 2023, IBM unveiled its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to achieve the general availability of Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) for Db2. This fully managed cloud solution is specifically crafted to enhance the ease with which database customers can handle data for artificial intelligence (AI) workloads in hybrid cloud environments.

Organizations are increasingly leveraging AI to uncover insights that contribute to well-informed decisions, the automation of repetitive tasks, and improved efficiencies. The effectiveness of these AI technologies relies on substantial amounts of data, necessitating contemporary data storage solutions hosted on cloud-native architectures. This infrastructure ensures scalability, cost optimization, heightened performance, and business continuity.

Customers using Amazon RDS for Db2 now possess the flexibility to modernize on-premises, on AWS, or deploy a hybrid cloud architecture, optimizing AI workloads. Specifically designed for those transitioning to AWS, Amazon RDS for Db2 facilitates the migration of their current self-managed Db2 databases to the cloud. This streamlines and automates resource-intensive database administrative tasks, including provisioning, backups, software patching, and monitoring.

"Digital transformation is a strategic imperative for nearly every one of our clients. By working with AWS to bring Db2 to Amazon RDS, we're helping companies prepare for the next generation of applications, analytics, and AI workloads that will power the modern economy," said Dinesh Nirmal, Senior Vice President of Products, IBM Software. "IBM and AWS are redefining the possibilities of cloud database innovation, removing the complexity of modernization and empowering organizations to realize the full potential of their data."

Customers adopting Amazon RDS have realized substantial business benefits through the transition to a fully managed service. An AWS and IDC study of RDS users revealed that those who migrated to a managed database on Amazon RDS could efficiently handle, on average, up to 60% more databases per Database Administrator (DBA). Additionally, there was an estimated average reduction of 39%1 in database operational costs over three years. This efficiency gain empowers DBAs to concentrate on high-value tasks such as application modernization and query optimization.

"We are pleased to collaborate with IBM to make it easier for customers to manage and modernize the highly-regarded and trusted IBM Db2 database in the cloud," said Jeff Carter, VP of Databases & Migrations, AWS. "For over a decade, Amazon RDS has offered hundreds of thousands of customers proven operational expertise, security best practices, and best-in-class managed database services for their mission-critical workloads. With Amazon RDS for Db2, customers can offload time-consuming database administrative tasks, such as provisioning, backups, patching, and monitoring, and use Amazon RDS multi-AZ deployments for high availability and durability. Customers can also easily take advantage of the broad portfolio of AWS services, including the ability to accelerate their generative AI priorities."

Blending Amazon RDS's operational proficiency and user-friendly features with the decades of experience of IBM Db2 in managing mission-critical workloads for global giants in banking, supply chain, and retail/e-commerce, Amazon RDS for Db2 emerges as a powerful solution. During the private beta phase, numerous longstanding customers recognized the inherent value of this offering, eagerly anticipating its potential to expedite productivity and modernization initiatives.

"The IT leaders at our cross-industry clients see this as a compelling value proposition," said Frank Fillmore, owner of The Fillmore Group, an IBM business partner that participated in the beta. "Amazon RDS for Db2 brings together the foundational expertise of IBM in relational database technology and the cloud innovations of AWS to help deliver the best of deployment efficiency, elastic scaling, and cost savings."

As customers of Amazon RDS for Db2 advance their modernization and AI initiatives, they gain the capability to utilize a spectrum of IBM's integrated data and AI features on AWS. This encompasses IBM's complete suite of commercial databases, data fabric solutions, and WatsonX data, AI, and specific AI governance capabilities.

These resources empower customers to construct, expand, and operate the next generation of reliable AI applications. With Amazon RDS for Db2, customers can now seamlessly amalgamate, transform, and share transactional data for AI, facilitated by the native integrations with Db2 Warehouse and WatsonX.data open data lakehouse on AWS.