Huawei launches machine learning database GaussDB

Huawei takes on Oracle, IBM and Microsoft with new cloud-based database management system powered by AI

Chinese technology giant Huawei, known for its smartphones and telecommunications equipment, is making further inroads into the enterprise IT market with a database product powered by machine learning.

The product will compete with popular database systems provided by IT’s old-guard, including IBM, Oracle and Microsoft.

Huawei claims the system is the first to use machine learning to tune database performance, and that the self-tuning algorithm improves the process’ performance by over 60 percent.

The database is named GaussDB and will be available as a service on local and private clouds. When running on Huawei’s cloud platform, HUAWEI Cloud, GaussDB provides data warehouse services for a raft of customers, including financial, Internet, logistics, education, and automotive industries.

GaussDB is also compatible with both x86 and Arm processor architectures and leverages GPUs and neural processing units (NPUs).

The launch was first reported by The Information who cited sources saying GaussDB will be initially available in China, with worldwide coverage coming later.

The Register noticed that GaussDB is not actually a new product at all, finding mentions of the system dating back to 2016. The addition of AI capabilities is what actually appears to be new here. Huawei’s press release announcing the launch confirmed as much by celebrating GaussDB’s popularity:

“So far, Huawei’s GaussDB and FusionInsight big data solutions have been deployed in 60 countries and regions, serving over 1,500 customers,” the release reads. “These two solutions have been adopted by over 500 business partners, and are widely used in industries such as finance, telecoms, government, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation.”

David Wang, Huawei executive board director and ICT strategy and marketing president, said that AI-powered databases are the next logical step in data management given how important the commodity has become to productivity.

“Data is the new factor of production, and intelligence the new productivity. Heterogeneous, intelligent, and converged databases will become the key data infrastructure of the financial, government, and telecoms industries,” Wang said.