SQL database company Yugabyte has announced a number of enhancements across its portfolio to provide customers with a database that suits the demands of modern applications. 

YugabyteDB 2.17 was released with new APIs for xCluster, which will help support planned and unplanned failovers to help companies meet business continuity goals.

The database now offers a new backup architecture that provides up to 5x improvement in backup and restore times compared to previous releases. Each node now sends data directly to a backup target in parallel, which eliminates bottlenecks and enables greater scalability. 

Now available in version 2.17, YugabyteDB Anywhere provides advanced data protection capabilities, such as xCluster replication deployment and management. Data can be recovered in a matter of microseconds in just a few clicks. 

Productivity enhancements include streamlined security through greater choice of key management systems providers, enhanced observability to reduce maintenance costs, the ability to automate maintenance tasks, and a new Node.js Smart Driver for YSQL.  

“Organizations looking to modernize new and existing core transactional applications need to move away from costly monolithic databases, but barriers to enterprise-readiness like data protection, security, and usability can block the way,” said Karthik Ranganathan, co-founder and CTO of Yugabyte. “YugabyteDB 2.17 removes key obstacles to database modernization. It empowers organizations with a host of new benefits unmatched in both legacy and many modern databases, putting developer productivity at the core.”

The company also updated YugabyteDB Managed, which provides management of database infrastructure for distributed applications. It now offers self-service geo-partitioning, low latency access through read replicas, a new Terraform provider, and a new free trial of production clusters. 

Together, YugabyteDB 2.17 and YugabyteDB Managed enabled companies to be more confident in their data protection, expedite cloud initiatives while keeping cost of ownership low, and accelerate productivity, Yugabyte explained.

The company also announced the YugabyteDB Managed Quantum Leap program, which offers startups a $10,000 YugabyteDB Managed credit.