Databases at Extreme Scale (PlanetScale CEO Sam Lambert)

Databases at Extreme Scale (PlanetScale CEO Sam Lambert)

From Modern Web by Modern Web

January 8, 2026 · 48 min

About this episode

Rob Ocel interviews PlanetScale CEO Sam Lambert about the future of database scaling and migration strategies.

In this episode of the Modern Web Podcast, Rob Ocel talks with PlanetScale CEO Sam Lambert about what “database scale” actually looks like in 2026. Sam shares migration stories from companies that moved at the perfect time and others that waited until they were already in trouble, plus why sharding and reliability are never just “magic” if your queries and data model are a mess. They also cover PlanetScale’s evolution beyond its MySQL and Vitess roots into Postgres, Metal, and what’s coming next for sharding in the Postgres world. Along the way, they connect the dots to AI workloads, which are increasingly write heavy and put new pressure on performance, uptime, and security. What You'll Learn: - How to spot the “right time” to migrate databases before you’re on fire (and what happens when you wait too long) - What PlanetScale actually gives you “for free” at scale, and what it can’t fix (bad schema, missing indexes, terrible SQL) - Why “auto” database magic is usually a tradeoff, and what to ask for when you want to peek behind the curtain - What PlanetScale is becoming beyond MySQL/Vitess, including Postgres, Metal, and Nikky (sharding for Postgres) - How AI workloads are…

People in this episode

Host: Rob Ocel

Guest: Sam Lambert

Topics covered

  • database migration
  • database scaling
  • AI workloads
  • sharding
  • performance
  • reliability
  • security

Keywords

  • database scale
  • migration stories
  • sharding
  • AI workloads
  • write heavy systems
  • performance
  • security

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: PlanetScale, MySQL, Vitess, Postgres, Metal, Nikky

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