Denodo 9.1 Boosts AI & Data Lakehouse Performance

Denodo, a leader in data management, announced the launch of Denodo Platform 9.1, adding new AI capabilities and tools to Denodo Platform 9, released in June. Denodo Platform 9 brought intelligent data delivery to data management, with AI-driven support for natural-language queries and support for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), so organizations can gain trusted, insightful results from their generative AI (GenAI) applications.

Denodo Platform 9.1 takes these features to a new level with the AI-powered Denodo Assistant, which leverages the rich semantic layer of the Denodo Platform to automate data engineering tasks as well as deliver contextualized insights and intelligent recommendations to data analysts and other business users.

Denodo Assistant: Key Features

• Query Wizard Recommendations: Builds on Denodo Platform 9’s support for natural language queries to provide step-by-step guidance through query creation, making it easier for users of all skill levels to generate accurate queries.
• Intelligent Query Autocompletion: Offers context-aware suggestions while users write queries, helping them to construct them more efficiently.
• Data Preparation Wizard: Enables data products to be quickly tailored to different use cases, without constant involvement from the data team.
• Suggestions for View and Column Descriptions: Automatically generates business-meaningful descriptions for views and columns, making data assets easier to create and understand.
• Enrichment of Text-based Unstructured Data: Automatically summarizes and classifies text, identifies and extracts data entities, analyzes sentiment, identifies and redacts sensitive data, and translates text using LLMs, all available as a single function call.

“Denodo Platform 9.1 has been a game changer for Festo, particularly in our journey to harness the potential of Generative AI within our data landscape,” said Lukas Reinauer, Data Engineer for Big Data & AI at Festo. “With Denodo’s flexible and advanced data integration capabilities, we’ve been able to seamlessly integrate structured and unstructured data, accelerating key GenAI initiatives such as FestoGPT and Skillground. This platform’s powerful metadata-driven approach has allowed us to overcome complex data challenges, enabling our employees to access and analyze data more intuitively and efficiently. The launch of Platform 9.1 marks an exciting milestone in our continued collaboration with Denodo, driving innovation and enhancing our ability to deliver meaningful insights across the organization.”

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Denodo Platform 9.1 also includes the new Denodo AI SDK, an open-source toolkit that accelerates the development of AI-powered applications and agents, especially when implementing RAG (retrieval augmented generation). The Denodo AI SDK simplifies the integration of both structured and unstructured data into GenAI models, for higher accuracy and better performance.

The Denodo AI SDK Includes:

• Pre-built APIs and Reusable Components, simplifying the process of providing real-time, governed data to LLMs from multiple data sources.
• RESTful Data APIs, specifically designed for developing RAG-based AI agents, abstracting lower-level data APIs and orchestration logic and facilitating integration with embedded application APIs and vector databases.
• Session-Level Security, ensuring that RAG-based AI agents comply with data privacy and security requirements.
• Flexible Integration Options, enabling developers to package and deliver their AI solutions to specific environments, thus speeding up their development lifecycle and production deployment.
• Sample RAG Application and Quickstart Tutorials, enabling AI developers to get started quickly with RAG-based development on Denodo.

“Organizations are finding it challenging to gain their expected business value from AI, but Denodo is working to change that, first with our support of RAG, and now with our AI SDK,” said Alberto Pan, chief technology officer at Denodo. “The AI SDK, which accelerates AI application development, is open-source by design. This is our way of leveling the field so more developers can compete in the race to build the promised AI applications of the future.”

Beyond Denodo Platform 9.1’s emphasis on AI, this latest release also strengthens a core benefit of the Denodo Platform in general: To enhance and augment the capabilities of data lakehouses and other modern data platforms.

Key features include:

• Advanced Iceberg Support: With enhanced introspection and time-travel features, Denodo Platform 9.1 makes it easier for non-technical users to manage and query Iceberg-based tables, for more flexibility in working with large datasets.
• Improved Microsoft Fabric and OneLake Support: New support for Delta table formats and enhanced connectivity to Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse streamlines data integration across cloud environments.
• Support for Arrow Flight SQL: Designed for high-performance data transfer, Arrow Flight SQL accelerates query performance across cloud data warehouses and lakehouses, boosting speed and efficiency.

The Denodo AI SDK, freely distributed under the Apache License, is available now to Denodo customers, and will soon be available on Github. In coming weeks, the AI SDK will also be packaged alongside Denodo Express, the freely downloadable version of the Denodo Platform, and will also be supported on Agora, the Denodo Cloud Service.

“Denodo’s Gen AI capability is a transformative innovation that allows anyone to access and interact with data using natural language,” said Mark Thorogood, Director, Data Operations and Software Engineering, Perkins Coie. “It removes the need for knowing technical details, such as database names or the particulars of a query language. By removing friction and barriers, Denodo’s Gen AI capability can simplify data access, maximize value, and drive data democratization.”

Source: Businesswire