Here’s a sign that customer data is increasingly important: open source database vendor Couchbase has introduced a “engagement database” that is says is new class of system, distinct from transactional and analytical databases. It’s optimized for real time interactions at scale, with key features including in-memory data, full text search, and mobile deployment. They’ve written a helpful white paper explaining the details.

B2B profiling vendor MarianaIQ was built from the start on using artificial intelligence to identify buyer personas. They’ve just announced a neural network-based model to help companies find new target accounts. Also new: a targeting option for Google AdWords, which joins existing Twitter and Facebook ad capabilities.

Bombora has launched Visitor Insights, a consent-based website tag that tracks the topics a device has consumed.   It infers intent, job function, management level, and other information that B2B publishers can use for ad targeting and personalization.  This Bombora report shows intent trends by industry: for example, media and advertising users show 70% more interest in Customer Data Platforms than they did last year.