PhoenixAI Launches as the Agentic AI Database and Names Rick Underwood President

PhoenixAI, formerly CelerData, launched on May 20, 2026 as an Agentic AI Database, built for autonomous AI agents to query live enterprise data at sub-second latency and high concurrency.

Rhea-AI Summary

PhoenixAI, formerly CelerData, launched on May 20, 2026 as an Agentic AI Database, built for autonomous AI agents to query live enterprise data at sub-second latency and high concurrency. The company named Rick Underwood President to lead go-to-market, customer success, finance, and operations.

PhoenixAI focuses on speed, simplicity, and governance: unified real-time and historical data, data sovereignty, role-based access control, SOC 2 standards, and encryption. It is available as BYOC in the customer’s cloud or self-hosted via PhoenixAI Anywhere.

Positive

• PhoenixAI launch as agentic AI database for autonomous enterprise workloads
• Sub-second latency and high-concurrency querying on live enterprise data
• Unified engine for real-time and historical data to reduce pipelines
• Built-in governance with data sovereignty, RBAC, SOC 2, and encryption
• Flexible deployment via BYOC or self-hosted PhoenixAI Anywhere
• Rick Underwood appointed President, bringing prior leadership through multiple technology company exits

Negative

• None.

Argus May 20 session

+2.52% close to close Open Argus

Details

News Market Reaction – CVLT

In the May 20 session, CVLT gained 2.52%, reflecting a moderate positive market reaction.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Market Context

This announcement highlights expansion in AI data infrastructure and leadership depth, referencing C...

Analysis

This announcement highlights expansion in AI data infrastructure and leadership depth, referencing Commvault’s ecosystem through a former Clumio CEO now leading PhoenixAI. Investors may compare this to prior AI initiatives that averaged moves of about 1.11%, focusing on measurable adoption, integration with cyber resilience offerings, and execution milestones around latency, concurrency, and governance claims when assessing longer-term significance.

Key Figures

Query latency: sub-second Concurrency: thousands of concurrent agents Data scale: petabytes of live data +4 more

Query latency

sub-second

Latency target for AI agents querying live enterprise data

Concurrency

thousands of concurrent agents

Scale of AI agents querying the PhoenixAI database

Data scale

petabytes of live data

Volume of data PhoenixAI aims to support for AI workloads

Snowflake tenure start

2017

Year Rick Underwood began senior GTM roles at Snowflake

Snowflake IPO year

2020

Year of Snowflake’s record IPO mentioned in Underwood’s background

Wavefront acquisition year

2017

Year Wavefront was acquired by VMware

Semmle acquisition year

2019

Year Semmle was acquired by Microsoft

Previous AI Reports

5 past events · Latest: 2026-04-15

Same Type 5 events

1. 2026-04-15

   AI ecosystem expansion

   24h Move

   +4.0%

   Expanded Commvault Flex ecosystem with new partners for AI-driven datasets.

2. 2026-03-23

   AI-security integration

   24h Move

   +1.7%

   Connected AI threat detection and recovery with Microsoft Security platforms.

3. 2026-03-18

   AI governance update

   24h Move

   +0.5%

   Added real-time data access governance and AI-enabled classification features.

4. 2026-03-17

   AI threat showcase

   24h Move

   +0.1%

   RSAC conference presence highlighting resilience against AI-driven cyber threats.

5. 2025-11-13

   AI resilience demos

   24h Move

   -0.8%

   Showcased AI-era cyber resilience solutions at Microsoft Ignite and SHIFT event.

24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.

Key Terms

role-based access control, soc 2

2 terms

role-based access control technical

"Governance means built-in data sovereignty, role-based access control, SOC 2 standards..."

Role-based access control is a system that gives people access to company systems, files or tools based on the job they do — like issuing keys that only open the rooms needed for each role. For investors, it matters because it reduces the chance of data breaches, fraud, or accidental errors, supports regulatory compliance, and helps preserve business continuity and trust, all of which can affect a company’s financial risk and reputation.

soc 2 regulatory

"Governance means built-in data sovereignty, role-based access control, SOC 2 standards..."

SOC 2 is an independent auditor’s report that assesses whether a company follows strict practices to keep customer data secure, available, and private—think of it as a health inspection for how a business handles sensitive information. For investors, a SOC 2 report signals lower operational and reputational risk from data breaches or service disruptions and helps judge the reliability of a company or its suppliers when digital data handling is central to value.

AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

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Formerly known as CelerData, PhoenixAI relaunches as the analytical engine built for autonomous AI agents to query live enterprise data at sub-second latency, at massive scale.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- PhoenixAI today launched as the Agentic AI Database, the analytical engine designed for AI agents to query live enterprise data at sub-second latency and massive concurrency. The company also named Rick Underwood as President to lead its next phase of growth and customer delivery.

The relaunch reflects a fundamental shift in how enterprise data gets consumed. AI agents are increasingly the dominant workload on enterprise data, and they query differently than human analysts: thousands of concurrent agents, sub-second latency requirements, and a need for live data unified with historical context that traditional analytical databases were never designed to serve.

Existing columnar databases built for ad-hoc human analysis weren't designed for managing agent workloads either — they push complexity back to the user at exactly the moment AI agents need the database to absorb it.

"Most of today's analytical databases were architected for a world that no longer exists, where humans ran dashboards on flat tables and complexity was someone else's problem," said Rick Underwood, President of PhoenixAI. "When thousands of agents need to query, reason, and act on petabytes of live data simultaneously — any question, simple or complex — the database is either the bottleneck or the breakthrough. PhoenixAI is built to provide the breakthrough that agentic AI needs, not the bottleneck it can't afford." 

Underwood joins PhoenixAI as President, leading go-to-market, customer success, finance, and operations. He was most recently CEO of Clumio, which he took through an acquisition by Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT). Prior to that, he held senior GTM leadership positions at Snowflake from 2017 through the company's record 2020 IPO, and earlier served as Head of Sales and CRO at Wavefront (acquired by VMware, 2017) and Semmle (acquired by Microsoft, 2019). He has spent his career building enterprise technology companies from early traction through exit.

PhoenixAI is built around three deciding factors for any enterprise putting AI agents into production: speed, simplicity, and governance. Speed means sub-second latency and high concurrency on live data, so agents act on what's true now, not yesterday's snapshot. Simplicity means a unified engine for real-time and historical data, eliminating brittle pipelines and reducing total cost of ownership.  Governance means built-in data sovereignty, role-based access control, SOC 2 standards, and encryption, deployed in the customer's own cloud (BYOC) or self-hosted with PhoenixAI Anywhere.

PhoenixAI is available today as a BYOC deployment in the customer's own cloud and as a self-hosted option with PhoenixAI Anywhere. Learn more at phoenixdata.ai.

About PhoenixAI
PhoenixAI is the Agentic AI Database, designed to give autonomous AI agents sub-second access to live enterprise data at massive scale. The AI-native engine unifies real-time and historical data, combining the speed and concurrency that agentic workloads demand with the governance and deployment flexibility enterprises require to put AI into production. Formerly known as CelerData, PhoenixAI is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Learn more at: phoenixdata.ai.

PhoenixAI
Joe Bresler
VP of Marketing
414964@email4pr.com

David Wamsley
Rosebud Communications
415.259.9104
414964@email4pr.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/phoenixai-launches-as-the-agentic-ai-database-and-names-rick-underwood-president-302777163.html

SOURCE PhoenixAI

FAQ

AI-generated questions and answers. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

What is PhoenixAI and when did it launch as an Agentic AI Database?

PhoenixAI is an Agentic AI Database launched on May 20, 2026 for autonomous AI agents. According to PhoenixAI, it enables sub-second, high-concurrency queries on live enterprise data, unifying real-time and historical information for agent-driven analytics.

How does PhoenixAI’s Agentic AI Database differ from traditional analytical databases?

PhoenixAI is designed for AI agents, not ad-hoc human queries, handling thousands of concurrent agent workloads. According to PhoenixAI, it targets sub-second latency on live data, while traditional columnar databases were built mainly for human dashboards on flat tables.

Who is Rick Underwood, the new President of PhoenixAI, and what is his background?

Rick Underwood is the President of PhoenixAI, leading go-to-market, customer success, finance, and operations. According to PhoenixAI, he was CEO of Clumio through its acquisition by Commvault and held senior leadership roles at Snowflake, Wavefront, and Semmle.

What are the key benefits PhoenixAI offers for enterprises deploying AI agents in production?

PhoenixAI targets three main needs: speed, simplicity, and governance for AI agent workloads. According to PhoenixAI, it provides sub-second latency, unified real-time and historical data, and built-in controls such as data sovereignty, role-based access, SOC 2 standards, and encryption.

How can enterprises deploy PhoenixAI’s Agentic AI Database in their environments?

PhoenixAI can be deployed in a customer’s own cloud as a Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) solution. According to PhoenixAI, it is also available as a self-hosted option through PhoenixAI Anywhere, giving enterprises flexibility over infrastructure and data control.

What governance and security features does PhoenixAI include for enterprise data?

PhoenixAI embeds governance features such as data sovereignty, role-based access control, SOC 2 standards, and encryption. According to PhoenixAI, these controls are designed to help enterprises safely run AI agents on live, sensitive data in their own cloud or self-hosted setups.