Simplyblock + Xata: Powering the Future of Postgres with Next-Gen Storage
May 15th, 2025 | 4 min read
We’re excited to congratulate our friends over at Xata on a significant milestone for developer infrastructure: Xata’s new PostgreSQL support is now backed by simplyblock’s NVMe/TCP software-defined storage.
This isn’t just another database announcement. It’s the fusion of developer-friendly simplicity with enterprise-grade storage performance—a powerful combination that redefines what’s possible with PostgreSQL in the cloud.
Xata’s Mission: Developer Experience First
Xata has consistently pushed the envelope in creating a modern, serverless database experience. From automatic indexing and full-text search to real-time data branching and built-in PII anonymization, they’re transforming how developers work with data, removing the complexity of managing a PostgreSQL infrastructure.
But to scale this vision to production-grade workloads, Xata needed a storage foundation that’s just as forward-thinking.
Simplyblock’s Mission: Redefining Software-Defined Storage
At Simplyblock, our mission is to simplify and modernize storage infrastructure radically. Traditional storage solutions weren’t built for the speed of NVMe SSDs, flexibility of cloud-native platforms, or scale of today’s distributed applications—and developers are paying the price in complexity, latency, and cost.
We believe storage should be:
- Invisible: Frictionless, fast, and easy to consume.
- Intelligent: With deep performance insights, quality-of-service guarantees, and tier-aware optimization.
- Adaptable: Supporting everything from high-throughput analytics to ephemeral test environments, across clouds, data centers, and edge locations.
Why Xata Chose Simplyblock as their Storage Provider
When Xata set out to extend their platform with PostgreSQL, they wanted more than just block storage. They needed a storage layer that could support:
✅ Ultra-low latency and high throughput
✅ Effortless scaling across tenants and databases
✅ Advanced data services like instant snapshots, clones, and erasure coding
✅ Cost-efficient durability without compromising on performance
That’s where simplyblock comes in.
Our NVMe-native, software-defined storage platform is designed for demanding, cloud-native environments:
- Sub-200μs access latency and consistent IOPS even at scale
- True multi-tenancy with performance isolation
- Distributed, scale-out architecture that grows with your workload
- Optimized erasure coding for efficient, reliable storage
- Full support for Kubernetes, making it seamless to integrate into Xata’s container-native architecture
Enabling Instant Data Branching at Scale
Xata’s new PostgreSQL branching feature allows developers to create isolated, production-grade copies of datasets in seconds. This enables true Git-style workflows for your database — test changes, run staging environments, or experiment freely without risking production data.
Behind every branch, simplyblock ensures high-speed snapshotting and cloning of datasets, with instant provisioning and minimal storage overhead thanks to our copy-on-write capabilities. There are no delays, no duplication, and no trade-offs—just the raw power of our MAUS (Modular, Adaptive, Unified, Shared-Everything) architecture.
Xata + Simplyblock = Neon Alternative
With the recent announcement of Databricks acquiring Neon, it’s clear that the hyperscaler-aligned data giants are doubling down on ecosystem lock-in. They try to blur the lines between data infrastructure and proprietary analytics platforms.
While this might seem like a win for consolidation, it raises real concerns for builders: What happens when your database becomes a feature of someone else’s roadmap? What if innovation slows, or worse, shifts toward enterprise upsells and closed-loop integrations?
For developers and teams who value choice, openness, and velocity, the combination of Xata + Simplyblock offers a refreshingly independent alternative that is purpose-built for the modern cloud but not captive to it.
If you’ve been betting on Neon and now find yourself second-guessing the future, there’s still time to switch—before your stack gets absorbed into someone else’s business model.
Built for the New Stack
What makes this partnership unique is how tightly integrated the layers are. Xata’s PostgreSQL implementation isn’t a legacy lift-and-shift. It’s built from the ground up to support data branching, temporal tables, and compliance-first design.
Simplyblock complements this with a storage foundation that:
- Accelerates snapshotting and rollbacks, ideal for branching workflows
- Enables performant object cloning, useful for anonymized test environments
- Reduces cloud storage costs, allowing Xata to pass savings to its users
Ready to see it in action?
We’re thrilled to partner with a company that shares our vision for building the future of infrastructure—one that’s modular, developer-first, and cloud-native at its core.
Check out Xata’s full blog post to explore how data branching and anonymization are transforming PostgreSQL. And stay tuned — we’re just getting started.
If you’re curious about how simplyblock can power your own storage-heavy platform or cloud-native database offering, get in touch. We love to help you build the storage infrastructure for the next decade of software—one block at a time.
