Spring GDS 25th Anniversary
A logistics company that ships to 190 countries built something to ship to itself.
Vector database
What is a vector database?
A vector database stores data as embeddings, which are lists of numbers that capture the meaning of text, images, or other content. Instead of matching exact words, it finds items whose vectors sit close together in that numeric space, which means it can retrieve things that are similar in meaning even when they share no keywords.
A traditional database answers "find rows where status equals open." A vector database answers "find the documents most similar to this question." It does that with approximate nearest neighbor search, an algorithm that scans millions of vectors fast enough to feel instant. A search for "how do I cancel" surfacing a doc titled "ending your subscription," with no shared words, is a vector database doing its job. This is what powers semantic search and the retrieval step in RAG systems.
Vector databases like Pinecone, Weaviate, or pgvector handle the storage, indexing, and similarity math so applications do not have to. They sit alongside the rest of your data stack rather than replacing it, holding the embeddings while your existing systems hold the source records.
Vector databases at Dallonses
When we build semantic search or a grounded assistant, the vector database is the quiet engine underneath. We pick one that fits the scale and the budget, design how content gets chunked and embedded, and tune the index so retrieval stays fast and relevant as the corpus grows. The wrong chunking strategy quietly wrecks answer quality, so we test it before anything ships.
This work usually runs alongside our AI and machine learning solutions and the broader data stack, including the data lakes and data warehouses where the source records already live. The vector store stays in sync with the system of record, so retrieval reflects reality instead of a stale snapshot. Global brands bring us search that has to actually understand the question, and that is where this layer earns its keep.
Need search that understands meaning, not just keywords? Let's wire it up.
Related services
Related works
Vizitio
Turning a brand into a working business.
Access Ticket
Half a million people. One app. Zero chaos.
Ready to work together?
Book a meeting
