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Simon Cooper

Principal Software Engineer I

Author's articles

Elasticsearch 9.3 adds bfloat16 vector support
Vector Database

February 16, 2026

Elasticsearch 9.3 adds bfloat16 vector support

Exploring the new Elasticsearch element_type: bfloat16, which can halve your vector data storage.

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By: Simon Cooper
HNSW graph: How to improve Elasticsearch performance
Basics

September 29, 2025

HNSW graph: How to improve Elasticsearch performance

Learn how to use the HNSW graph M and ef_construction parameters to improve search performance.

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By: Simon Cooper
Using Direct IO for vector searches
Vector Database

August 8, 2025

Using Direct IO for vector searches

Using rescoring for kNN vector searches improves search recall, but can increase latency. Learn how to reduce this impact by leveraging direct IO.

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By: Simon Cooper

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