Seda Hotel, BGC, Philippines - November 19th, 2024 - the MongoDB Developer Day Manila 2024 brought together a diverse group of developers, data enthusiasts, and industry experts to explore the latest advancements in database technology. The event offered a comprehensive look at the evolving landscape of data management, with a particular focus on MongoDB's powerful capabilities and its role in driving innovation.

I attended as a representative of MediaTrack, a global media monitoring company with the initiative to innovate our product as well as our usage of MongoDB. While the lunch was a bit underwhelming, with food running out by 12:30 PM, the overall experience was positive.

AI Podcast Summary:

From RDBMS to NoSQL at Enterprise Scale

Morning Session starting with Wen Jie Teo's session delved into the historical journey of databases, from early relational systems to modern NoSQL solutions. The session highlighted the challenges associated with traditional relational databases, such as scalability and performance limitations, and emphasized the importance of choosing the right database technology for specific use cases. The speaker also discussed the trade-offs between normalization and denormalization, and the importance of careful schema design in NoSQL environments.

MongoDB Generative AI Application Stack

Kevin See's talk on "MongoDB Generative AI Application Stack" shed light on the transformative potential of AI and its integration with MongoDB. Vector search and embeddings were presented as powerful tools for unlocking the semantic meaning of data, while the importance of post-evaluation was stressed to ensure accurate and reliable AI-generated outputs. The session also highlighted the need to balance cost-effectiveness with accuracy when choosing AI models.

MongoDB Keynote: The Future of Data

Stephen Dalby, Managing Director of Industry Solutions at MongoDB, delivered the keynote address, providing a comprehensive overview of the platform's core principles: resilience, scalability, security, and performance. He introduced Query Encryption, a groundbreaking feature designed to protect sensitive data, and highlighted the significant performance improvements achieved through recent optimizations.

Stephen also emphasized the growing importance of vector search in the AI landscape. MongoDB Atlas Vector Search stands out with its unique quantization approach, which isolates vector search operations from analytics and big data workloads. This innovative approach has earned MongoDB Atlas the title of "most loved vector database" for two consecutive years and accelerated its adoption by both small businesses and large enterprises.

Powering BetterBank Experiences with Data

Up next was Aloy Mendoza from Security Bank as a Customer Session. Security Bank is leveraging MongoDB to revolutionize its operations and enhance customer experiences. By harnessing the power of data, the bank is able to personalize customer interactions, optimize internal processes, and strengthen risk management. MongoDB's capabilities enable Security Bank to extract valuable insights from data, leading to more efficient processes and improved decision-making. The bank's commitment to innovation and technological advancement has been recognized with a technology excellence award, solidifying its position as a leader in the financial industry.

Accelerate Building Generative AI Applications with AWS

Romulo Gapuz, Jr. from AWS Philippines explored how AWS can accelerate the development of generative AI applications. The session covered the fundamentals of generative AI, serverless patterns for deploying AI applications, and real-world use cases such as hyper-personalization. Romulo also discussed the shift of LLMs from Billions to Trillions data points, which is becoming increasingly feasible due to advancements in distributed cloud computing technology. AWS Polly was also used for the AI Podcast Summary.

What's New in MongoDB 8.0

Kevin See introduced MongoDB 8.0, highlighting its improvements in performance, scalability, and security. One key feature is Block Processing for Time Series, which enhances the handling of time-based data. The update also includes optimized command execution for faster queries and improvements in memory management, leading to reduced memory usage and better overall performance. MongoDB 8.0 further boosts database uptime with enhanced high-availability replication.

In terms of database scaling, MongoDB 8.0 offers more flexibility with arbitrary shard key collections, faster re-sharding, and the ability to use shards as configuration servers, streamlining infrastructure. On the security side, new features include stronger authentication protocols, expanded queryable encryption support, and a new OCSF logging format to improve audit logging and traceability.

ABS-CBN's Digital Transformation with MongoDB

Mark Anthony "Kram" dela Cruz, Head of Product Tech Development at ABS-CBN, discussed how the company is leveraging MongoDB for its digital transformation. Moving away from legacy systems like Kentico, ABS-CBN has adopted modern technologies such as Next.js, Express.js, and MongoDB Atlas. Key projects include Studio XP, an interactive platform with arcade games, 4D theater, and AR battles, along with a partnership with Hado Techno Sports to offer AR gaming. MongoDB helps ABS-CBN manage large datasets, personalize content, and provide seamless experiences, enabling the company to stay ahead in the digital media space and better engage its audience.

Legacy Modernization with MongoDB

Francesc Mateu, Industry Solutions Principal, explored strategies for modernizing legacy applications with MongoDB, addressing the increasing pressure on organizations to innovate and meet evolving business demands. He outlined five key approaches to legacy modernization. First, Modernizing Reads by using MongoDB as a high-performance data store for operational workloads, and creating an enriched operational data layer that integrates data from multiple sources to enable advanced analytics. Second, Modernizing Reads & Writes, which includes implementing parallel write strategies (Y-Loading) to improve data ingestion and processing speeds. Additionally, he highlighted the transformation of mainframe systems by migrating workloads to MongoDB to reduce costs, enhance performance, and scale more efficiently.

Another key approach is leveraging MongoDB as the primary system of record for transactional workloads, ensuring strong consistency and ACID guarantees. Finally, consolidating existing systems of record into MongoDB simplifies operations and data management. By following these strategies, organizations can modernize their legacy systems, improve agility, streamline operations, and unlock new opportunities for growth in an increasingly data-driven world.

Beyond the Search Bar: Building Engaging Experiences With Atlas Search

Hendri Tjipto, Senior Solutions Architect, explored the versatile applications of Atlas Search beyond traditional search functionalities. The session highlighted how Atlas Search can be leveraged to create rich user experiences, including search bars, filters, sorting, pagination, autocomplete, and autocorrection. Atlas search index supports additional features such as synonyms, typos and scoring. By effectively utilizing these features, developers can build engaging and intuitive search experiences that delight users and drive business value.

MongoDB Performance: Patterns and Best Practices

The last session was a deep dive into MongoDB Performance by Paul Cleenewerck, where we explored key patterns and best practices for designing high-performance, cost-effective database applications. The speakers shared insights drawn from years of real-world experience, offering actionable advice on performance planning, design, and monitoring. Whether you're building from scratch or optimizing an existing app, these best 12 practices pattern such as - hunk bottlenecks, use the ESR rule, manage connections, plan for scaling, rebalance shards - are crucial for ensuring that your MongoDB setup runs smoothly as it scales. The session also covered common pitfalls to avoid and how to keep your applications performant without overspending.

Event Booths:

• MongoDB Product: Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and engage with MongoDB experts.
• CloudMile: Attendees can know more about AI and cloud services such as machine learning, big data, and GCP.

Learning and Growing with MongoDB University

Beyond the insightful presentations, the event also mentioned MongoDB University, a comprehensive learning platform offering free on-demand courses, certifications, and badges. This valuable resource empowers developers of all skill levels to deepen their understanding of MongoDB and its capabilities. From introductory courses to specialized tracks like "Building GenAI Apps," MongoDB University caters to diverse learning needs and career aspirations.

The MongoDB Developer Day Manila 2024 was a resounding success, providing attendees with a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. As the world continues to generate vast amounts of data, MongoDB's flexible and scalable solutions, coupled with its commitment to education and developer empowerment, position it as a leader in shaping the future of data management.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Raphael Francis Quisumbing as a Co-Host of KaKaComputer, is a seasoned technology expert with 20+ years of experience in the industry. He has several hour long videos in Youtube as YoungCTO with over 37.1K Views, 2.6K Hours Watch Time and 1.3K Subscribers. Raphael is presently the Head of Product for Broadcast of Media:Track, the fastest growing International media monitoring outsourcing hub. He is recognized Cloud Enthusiast and leader (AWS Hero) with genuine enthusiasm for effectively mentoring a usergroup of over 15,000 members in the Philippines. He comes from a family of teachers and educators, serving in the academe as well as being an AWS Authorized Instructor.