Databases & Data Management

Tensor9 for Database and Data Management Vendors

Managing databases and data-intensive applications in enterprise environments presents significant challenges, particularly for vendors delivering modern software that relies on cloud-managed services. Traditional SaaS products often depend on managed databases like AWS RDS, DynamoDB, and Google BigQuery for convenience, but these services are incompatible with on-prem, BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud), or air-gapped environments. Vendors must either re-architect their products to support local databases or risk losing enterprise customers with strict data residency and performance requirements.

Recently, vendors such as Databricks, RedPanda, and ClickHouse have demonstrated new approaches by offering BYOC architectures that run cloud-native database services directly within customer environments. These solutions highlight the growing need for vendors to adopt deployment models that preserve the security and control of traditional on-premise systems while maintaining the automation and convenience of SaaS.

Tensor9 builds on these advancements by enabling consistent database delivery across a broader range of environments—including air-gapped networks—while supporting observability, secure remote support, and seamless deployment.

Trends in Databases & Data Management

1. Containerized On-Prem Deployments
   Vendors like ClickHouse and Databricks provide containerized, cloud-native versions of their products that can be deployed into customer environments, often using Kubernetes. This approach mimics traditional on-prem deployments while adding the portability benefits of containers.

2. Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC)
   In BYOC models, vendors deploy infrastructure-as-code into the customer’s VPC. Typically, this includes:

   • Control Plane: Managed by the vendor and responsible for tasks such as authentication, billing, and monitoring.
   • Data Plane: Hosted within the customer’s environment to ensure data never leaves their infrastructure.

3. Expanding Beyond Cloud-Connected BYOC
   While BYOC models address some data residency concerns, they often remain tied to public cloud infrastructure, limiting their applicability for on-prem and air-gapped environments. Tensor9 extends this model to support fully disconnected environments with secure workflows and audit-logged observability.

How Tensor9 Helps

Tensor9 addresses the challenges faced by vendors delivering database-intensive applications by making it easy to run in any customer environment without costly re-engineering.

Managed Service Replacement

Tensor9 automatically replaces cloud services like AWS S3, DynamoDB, and Redis with local, open-source equivalents (e.g., MinIO for object storage, ScyllaDB for key-value stores, and Redis for caching). This ensures that software can run in environments where cloud-managed services are unavailable.

Consistent Delivery Across Environments

Tensor9 abstracts the differences between managed and self-hosted databases, enabling vendors to deliver a consistent product experience across SaaS, BYOC, and air-gapped deployments.

Data Residency and Compliance

By running databases locally within the customer’s environment, Tensor9 ensures compliance with regulations like GDPR and national data sovereignty laws that restrict data movement outside specific regions.

Performance Optimization

Tensor9 reduces latency by processing data close to where it is stored, avoiding costly data transfers to the cloud and enabling real-time performance for data-intensive workloads.

Example Scenario: Financial Services Data Management

A global financial services firm processes millions of transactions daily across multiple regions, with strict requirements for data residency. Regulatory policies prevent the company from storing transaction data in a public cloud. However, the firm still wants the performance and convenience of a modern cloud-native fraud detection system.

What Tensor9 Enables:
The software vendor can deliver its application directly into each region's infrastructure without re-architecting it for on-prem environments. Tensor9 automatically replaces cloud-managed databases with local, compliant services while maintaining operational observability and enabling secure, supervised support.

Why Database & Data Management Vendors Should Care

The success of vendors like Databricks and ClickHouse shows that enterprise customers increasingly demand local deployment options that keep data within their environments while retaining cloud-native benefits. Tensor9 goes beyond these BYOC solutions by supporting air-gapped networks, private on-prem systems, and any form factor required by regulated industries. This unlocks new markets for database and data management vendors, enabling them to meet the most stringent customer demands without costly, custom engineering efforts.

Summary

Database and data management vendors are at a critical inflection point where customer expectations for security, data sovereignty, and performance are driving a shift away from centralized SaaS. Tensor9 makes it possible to deliver database-intensive applications directly into any customer environment, supporting compliance, reducing latency, and ensuring a consistent user experience across SaaS, on-prem, and air-gapped environments.