Elastic 9.1/8.19: BBQ by default, ES|QL with CCS GA, JOINS GA, Azure AI Foundry integration

Elastic 9.1 and 8.19 are now generally available, bringing several new features to the Elasticsearch Platform, including improvements to vector search with “Better Binary Quantization” (BBQ) – 5x faster than OpenSearch – and new algorithms like ACORN. Key updates also include integrations with Azure AI Foundry for centralized observability, enhanced security features like automated Attack Discovery, and general availability of ES|QL with cross-cluster search and the LOOKUP join for simplified data analysis. These releases are available on Elastic Cloud, including a new deployment option on Microsoft Azure.