The Architect’s Guide to Interoperability in the AI Data Stack

Originally published on the New Stack.

The future of AI is open, and interoperability is your ticket to staying ahead no matter what technologies are in your stack.

As AI and machine learning continue to scale across industries, data architects face a critical challenge: ensuring interoperability in an increasingly fragmented and proprietary ecosystem. The modern AI data stack must be flexible, cost-efficient and future-proof, all while avoiding the dreaded vendor lock-in that can stifle innovation and blow up your budget.

Why Interoperability Matters

At the heart of an AI-driven world is data — lots of it. The choices you make today for storing, processing and analyzing data will directly affect your agility tomorrow. Architecting for interoperability means selecting tools that play nicely across environments, reducing reliance on any single vendor, and allowing your organization to shop for the best pricing or feature set at any given moment. 

Here are some reasons why interoperability should be a key principle in your AI data stack.

1. Avoiding Vendor Lock-InProprietary systems might seem convenient at first, but they can turn into a costly trap. Interoperable systems allow you to freely migrate your data without being locked into one ecosystem or paying hefty exit fees. This flexibility ensures you can take advantage of the best technology as it evolves.
2. Cost OptimizationWith interoperable systems, you're free to shop around. Need more compute? You’re not tied to a specific provider’s pricing model. You can switch to a more affordable option as needed. Interoperability empowers you to make the most cost-effective choices for each component of your AI stack.
3. Future-Proofing Your ArchitectureAs AI and machine learning tools rapidly evolve, interoperability ensures your architecture can adapt. Whether it’s adopting the latest query engine or integrating new machine learning frameworks, interoperable systems enable your organization to be AI ready today and into the future.
4. Maximizing Tool CompatibilityInteroperable systems are designed to work across different environments, tools and platforms, enabling smooth data flows and reducing the need for complex migrations. This increases the speed of experimentation and innovation since you're not wasting time making tools work together.

Key Technologies for an Interoperable AI Data Stack

Achieving interoperability is about making strategic decisions in your software stack. Below are some of the essential tools that promote this flexibility.

1. Open Table Formats

Open table formats like Apache Iceberg, Apache Hudi and Delta Lake enable advanced data management features such as time travel, schema evolution and partitioning. These formats are designed for maximum compatibility, so you can use them across various tools, including SQL engines like Dremio, Apache Spark or Presto. Iceberg’s open structure ensures that as new tools and databases emerge, you can incorporate them without rearchitecting your entire system.

2. High-Performance S3-Compatible Object Storage

Whether you’re running workloads on-prem, in public clouds, or at the edge, AWS S3-compatible object storage provides the flexibility needed for modern AI workloads. As a high-performance, scalable option that can be deployed anywhere, S3 compatibility allows organizations to avoid cloud vendor lock-in while ensuring consistent access to data from any location or application.

3. Apache X-Table: Multi-Format Freedom

Apache X-Table is a project designed for flexibility in open table formats. It allows you to switch between open-table formats like Iceberg, Delta Lake and Hudi. This freedom ensures that as table formats evolve or offer new features, your architecture remains adaptable without requiring significant rework or migration efforts.

4. Query Engines: Query Without Migration

Interoperability extends to query engines as well. Clickhouse, Dremio and Trino are great examples tools that let you query data from multiple sources without needing to migrate it. These tools allow users to connect to a wide range of sources, from cloud data warehouses like Snowflake to traditional databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server. With modern query engines, you can run complex queries on data wherever it resides, helping avoid costly and time-consuming migrations.

5. Catalogs for Flexibility and Performance

Data catalogs like Polaris and Tabular provide high-performance capabilities and are built with the flexibility that modern data architectures demand. These tools are designed to work with open table formats, giving users the ability to efficiently manage and query large data sets without vendor-specific limitations. This helps ensure that your AI models can access the data they need in real time, regardless of where it’s stored.

Interoperability Now

Architecting for interoperability is not just about avoiding vendor lock-in; it’s about building an AI data stack that’s resilient, flexible and cost-effective. By selecting tools that prioritize open standards, you ensure that your organization can evolve and adapt to new technologies without being constrained by legacy decisions. Whether you’re adopting high-performance S3-compatible storage, open table formats or query engines, the future of AI is open — and interoperability is your ticket to staying ahead.