July 17, 2021 It’s Time for Data Historians to Become … History Database Historians...History? Why a modern time-series capable database can simplify yet enhance time-series data analysis. Despite the professorial image the term suggests, a data historian is not an instructor or researcher, but a purpose-build software solution. And evolutions in how operational data is used and managed have eclipsed the need for data historian software… Read More
December 16, 2020 The Need for Speed in Data Analysis Why Performance Matters My very first sales call to an analytics prospect was with a customer using an OLTP database for reporting. Some of their reports took hours to run and one particularly challenging report typically ran for more than thirteen hours. Our performance benchmarking had shown that for analytics workloads, Actian would be… Read More
April 29, 2020 SQLite – the Banana Slug of Embedded Databases Earlier this month, I kicked off a series of blogs about SQLite. The first looked at the advantages that SQLite offers over both flat files and the heavier lift of an enterprise-grade SQL databases – and it does offer distinct advantages over both. To a point. And that point was five years ago. Here's… Read More
April 13, 2020 Reducing Customer Churn in the Telecom Industry with Connected Data Customer loyalty is the key to profitability in the telecom industry. Because telecom providers manage large fixed infrastructures that must be offset by revenue, customer churn (attrition) is particularly problematic in this industry. Low switching costs for customers (supported by government regulations) mean that customer loyalty is the only real tool that telecom companies… Read More
April 7, 2020 Making the Transition from Flat Files to SQLite – pluses, but what’s missing against requirements? In December, January, and February, I posted a short series of blogs on Flat file systems. The series of blogs focus on the continued use of flat files and why they are no longer viable for use in the future. The first installment focused on flat files and why embedded software application developers readily adopted… Read More
March 30, 2020 Real-Time Reporting Platform for Operational Systems Digital transformation has drastically expanded the use of operational systems, IoT, and other technologies within companies' business processes. This is a good thing. It means that end-users, whether they be employees, partners, or customers, are more productive. The introduction of modern operational technologies and integrating them into business processes is only the first step… Read More
February 24, 2020 Real-Time Streaming – Actionable Insights Drive Business Responsiveness If you want your business to be agile, you need to be leveraging real-time data. The environments that your businesses operate in are changing faster than ever – new competition in the marketplace, regulatory changes; operational issues; and new technology advancements are only the tip of the iceberg. If you want to survive and… Read More
February 3, 2020 Consolidation of the Database Market and What it Means for Your Data Warehouse A few months ago, Gartner published an update on the database market, which is highlighted in Adam Ronthal’s blog “There is only One DBMS Market” and made a rather profound declaration – the database markets have collapsed. No, the market isn't crashing, it is having the best year ever, what has happened is the… Read More
January 23, 2020 Visualizing Social Relationships Using Object Databases Social relationships hold a wealth of information about your customers, employees, and suppliers that (if you have the tools to harness them) can provide you valuable insights about the factors that influence behaviors that ultimately impact your bottom line. The challenge with analyzing and visualizing social relationships is that the underlying data doesn't match… Read More
January 9, 2020 Develop a 360-degree view of your customer with Real-time Connected Data Warehouse Customer churn is a big concern for the sales and marketing teams. It is far easier (and cheaper) to keep your current customers happy than it is to acquire new customers. But how happy are your customers? Do you really know? Leveraging a connected data warehouse to develop a 360-degree view of your customers… Read More
December 9, 2019 Why Avalanche and DataConnect are Better Together … Part 3 How Avalanche and DataConnect work together to deliver an end-to-end data management solution Migrating to a cloud data warehouse makes strategic sense in the modern context of cloud services and digital transformation. Operationally, connecting disparate data sources into your cloud data warehouse, managing ongoing change in your IT environment, and delivering on the promises… Read More
December 2, 2019 Why Avalanche and DataConnect are Better Together … Part 2 Checklist: Critical Capabilities to Consider when Selecting a Data Integration Vendor That Enables Real-Time Analytics Use Cases Migrating to a cloud data warehouse makes strategic sense in the modern context of cloud services and digital transformation. Operationally, connecting disparate data sources into your cloud data warehouse, managing ongoing change in your IT environment, and… Read More
October 24, 2019 Optimizing Cloud Compute and Data Storage for Data Analytics When architecting your data warehouse solution, separating compute and data storage is extremely important for both operational sustainability and economic efficiency. Different things drive the technical needs for each of these, the capacity demands of the organization are different, and the best solution requires optimizing compute and data storage separately. Storage capacity is a… Read More
October 18, 2019 Using DataConnect to Acquire, Prepare and Deliver Data to Avalanche Actian recently announced the availability of Avalanche on the Azure platform, extending the capabilities already available on AWS. This announcement is exciting news for customers because it means greater flexibility and choice in selecting cloud operating environments as well as creating the opportunity for a multi-cloud deployment. Actian DataConnect enhances the capabilities of Avalanche… Read More
September 26, 2019 Observations from Strata Data Conference Looking around at Strata this morning I observe that the folks here fall into three broad categories: The t-shirt wearing techie who proudly wears their favorite logo'ed t-shirt e.g. "Data is the New Bacon" and who is here to reassure themselves that there isn't much that they don't know about what is happening in… Read More
September 3, 2019 How Data Integration Can Help Reduce Technical Debt Whenever you create, install or implement a new process, system or tool in your IT environment, you generate technical debt that must be supported and maintained for the life of the component. The impact of a single connections may not seem significant but when you consider, however, the thousands (if not millions) of components,… Read More
August 29, 2019 How Often Do You Update Your Data Connections? Modern IT environments have many connections between individual systems. Operational workflows, application-to-database links, data warehouse feeds, analytics/reporting tools and published APIs are just some examples of these data connections. They’re required to enable data to flow smoothly throughout your organization to drive business process effectiveness and informed decision-making. After you create a data connection,… Read More
August 22, 2019 If ETL Is Integration Hell, How Do I Avoid It and Go to Heaven? Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) is the process that has been used to share data between applications, transactional systems, and data warehouses for decades. It essentially works like this; you define an integration, pull the data out of the source system, use some mapping and aggregation rules to transform the data into the format… Read More
August 7, 2019 Using a Cloud Data Warehouse to Support Localized Systems Over the past few years, we’ve seen an increasing trend of regional governments applying unique restrictions and controls on where data is stored and how it is managed for users and businesses in their jurisdiction. The EU and Japan have recently imposed some strict rules about data export. A cloud data warehouse can be… Read More
July 29, 2019 Exploiting Analytics in the Cloud Without Moving All Your Data There Your company has competing data needs. You need IT systems optimized for real-time transaction processing to serve as the engine for digitally transformed business processes. You also need your data aggregated and optimized for analytics to generate both real-time insights and perform deep data-mining activities. It can be difficult to balance these competing needs… Read More
July 16, 2019 How to Address Integration Challenges with the Proliferation of IoT Devices During the past few years, IoT devices have evolved from being a consumer novelty to a core part of next-generation IT ecosystems for businesses of all sizes. IoT devices (such as smart watches, fitbits, home sensors, RFID point of sale scanners, heartbeat monitors, etc) have become attractive and useful because of their inexpensive price… Read More
July 11, 2019 Will Data Management in Operational Technology Finally Be Standardized? The proliferation of Operational Technology (OT) within companies is increasing, which has led many to ask whether this will lead to standardization of how operational technology generated data is managed? The answer is “it’s complicated.” There is unlikely to be standardization of the data individual operational technology devices generate, but there will be new… Read More
July 9, 2019 The Importance of Data Stewardship Agreements Across Companies There has been much talk recently about the technical implications of leveraging SaaS solutions and the benefits of integrating data across supply-chain networks. Today, most companies aren’t vertically integrated and, therefore, rely on a network of suppliers and distribution partners to transform raw materials into the finished goods and services customers consume. It makes… Read More
June 17, 2019 Too Much Data, Too Few Actionable Insights…Too Late! Data is the lifeblood of a modern company. It provides operations staff with visibility of company operations, marketing and product development teams with insights about what’s occurring in the marketplace and company leaders with the input they need to make informed business decisions. Unfortunately, most companies are struggling to translate their data into true… Read More
June 13, 2019 Delivering the Right Data to the Right User in the Right Format is the Key to Success for Data Architects, Engineers, and DBAs The data consumers within your organization aren’t a homogeneous group, so you must adapt your data management solutions accordingly. At one end of the spectrum is the ideal, “one-size-fits-all” solution. At the other end is a customized set of capabilities for each individual user that seems ideal, but is unworkable. How then do you… Read More
June 11, 2019 Democratization of Data Means Making Data Usable for Users of Varied Skill Levels and Charters If you’re a data engineer or a data architect, then you’re probably kept awake at night wondering how to design your data integration, management and analytics support platforms, so your DBAs and IT Ops colleagues can easily manage them while a varied set of data users are able to consume them simultaneously. These users… Read More
June 10, 2019 2019 Data Management Trends and How They Will Affect Integration 2019 is becoming an exciting year for the data management community. Many of the trends of the past few years have successfully made the transition from emerging concepts to mainstream solution approaches. While trends are important building blocks about how companies approach their data management today, they are also providing insights into future capabilities… Read More
May 21, 2019 Is Your Data Making a Difference? For many years, companies have been accumulating large amounts of data with an intuitive feeling that it has value and would be put to good use to make more informed business decisions. As we transition into a new era where machine learning and artificial intelligence are enabling more robust analysis of a company’s data… Read More
April 1, 2020 The More you Refine Stored Data, the More Valuable it Becomes Having a lot of data available to you is a good thing, right? That depends. Data is a raw material, like a mineral mined from the ground. It contains a potential for creating value, but that potential is only realized through refinement. Your company produces a lot of data every day (every second really).… Read More
January 28, 2020 Embedded Integration: Put the Analytics Compute Where the Data Lies. Selecting the best location for your analytics compute poses an interesting dilemma leading to thoughtful debate in some companies while others don't even consider the topic. If you're dealing with distributed systems, embedded sensors in machinery, mobile apps, or IoT devices, this topic is for you! Where you locate compute resources for analytics has… Read More
January 24, 2020 An Embedded Software Developers Flat File Migration Check List This is the final installment on the series of blogs I wrote on the continued use of flat files and why they are no longer viable for use in the future. The first installment focused on flat files and why embedded software application developers readily adopted them. Then in the second installment, I discussed why embedded… Read More
October 29, 2019 Is now the right time to modernize your data warehouse? Technology is continually changing and determining the right time to upgrade and modernize can be tricky. If you adopt new technology too soon, this may result in churn within your organization and the implementation of immature solutions that may not meet your needs. If you wait too long, you miss out on market opportunities… Read More
October 7, 2019 What Is a Data Hub and Why Should You Care? If you are still using point-to-point integrations to move data through your IT environment, then you are spending too much money and missing the opportunities a modern data can provide. A data hub is a centralized service that connects all of your IT systems, whether they be Web applications, IoT devices, SaaS solutions, or… Read More
August 19, 2019 Does It Make Sense to Push All Your IoT Data to the Cloud? IoT devices create plenty of data – much more that you might think. When you multiply this amount of data by the number of devices installed in your company’s IT ecosystem, it is apparent IoT is a truly big data challenge. Two common questions IT staff and data management professionals have been asking during… Read More
July 17, 2019 Managing Data Across Distributed Data Warehouses Data integration, like the digital-transformation initiatives it supports, is a journey and not a destination. Every company is somewhere on a path from the past to a desired state of future integration they’d like to achieve. If your company has existed for a number of years, then you likely have multiple databases, data marts… Read More
July 8, 2019 Are You Collecting the Right Data Sources? Quantity as well as quality are so important to your data, but there is a third dimension to your data puzzle that is even more important – content. As your company evaluates new data sources and improvements to your existing data, ask yourself, “Are we collecting the right data?” Here are three tips to… Read More
June 24, 2019 Top 5 Issues in Data Warehousing for IT Leaders With more and more companies embarking on digital transformation journeys, the focus on enterprise data is greater than ever. Data warehousing is not a new concept, but recent developments in the industry are generating a new wave of executive interest and the need to modernize both the approach and solutions for how enterprise data… Read More
