Offline-first database servers to help PHL companies be disaster-ready

COUCHBASE, INC. is optimistic about its growth in the Philippine market with its offline-first database server that can help enterprises ensure uninterrupted operations during disasters.

“The Philippines sits in a very interesting position geographically because it has a lot of disaster disruptions during the year, which has significant impact on businesses,” Genie Yuan, regional vice-president for Asia Pacific at Couchbase, told ����ý in a virtual interview.

“Our strategy is very simple going into the Philippine market and anchoring on a mission-critical application for the enterprise.”

The Philippines, which experiences an average of 20 typhoons every year, remained the world’s most disaster-prone country, according to the 2024 World Risk Index.

In March, the company launched Couchbase Edge Server, an offline-first, lightweight database that provides data access, consolidation, storage, and processing for applications at a low latency.

“There are a number of instances when I’m trying to find some food after a typhoon or a natural disaster, and a lot of shops say, ‘I can pop a generator at the back of the house, but I don’t have internet, I can’t make a transaction’,” Mr. Yuan said.

Many existing edge applications rely solely on cloud databases that are affected by connectivity issues, especially during natural disasters.

Couchbase Edge Server is designed to work in areas without internet connectivity on the edge device, running on resource-constrained infrastructures with as little as one gigabyte RAM (random access memory).

Once connectivity is restored in the area, data will automatically sync back to the enterprises’ cloud or centralized server, the company said.

“Couchbase is designed to have the database embedded on the edge device. This means as long as you have power or the battery that is available on the machine or on the terminal, it will store the data. It will transact. You will have the compute and storage capability,” Mr. Yuan added.

Couchbase Edge Server is built on the Couchbase Lite core engine, which is designed to power artificial intelligence (AI)-driven applications. The latter has a vector capability, which can handle localized knowledge bases to avoid “AI hallucinations.”

The edge server is also capable of horizontal scaling, allowing businesses to add as many workloads as they need, according to Mr. Yuan.

Around 65% of enterprises believe that edge solutions will be critical for deploying generative AI applications, Couchbase said, citing its recent survey of over 1,000 companies across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Turkey.

Mr. Yuan said AI adoption among Philippine enterprises is still in its “early stages,” citing challenges related to compliance, costs, and scattered data.

“It is important to understand that AI is not going to happen only in the cloud. AI can happen in multiple locations — from the edge to the intermediate,” he said. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz