With the rise of cloud computing, many organizations are opting to use a hybrid approach to their data management. Even though many companies still rely on on-premises storage, the benefits of having cloud storage as a backup or disaster recovery plan can be significant. This post will give you five of the most popular…
Did you know that 63% of organizations are actively migrating data from on-premises databases to the cloud? So says an IDC survey, and another 29% are planning to start a database migration within 3 years. Carl Olofson, IDC’s Vice President of Research specializing in data management software, recently participated as a guest speaker in…
Hybrid clouds seem to be the way the wind is blowing. According to the Enterprise Strategy Group, the number of organizations committed to or interested in a hybrid cloud strategy has increased from 81% in 2017 to 93% in 2020. But what exactly is a hybrid cloud? Turns out, there are a lot of…
If the first question you consider when thinking about a cloud data warehouse involves how much money you will save by moving your on-premises solution to the cloud, you may not like my answer: There’s no guarantee that you will realize any cost savings at all. But let me suggest, however humbly, that this…
A data warehouse is a centralized repository for the storage of data from one or more aggregated sources, updated immediately with real-time data yet retaining prior data for a more comprehensive dataset. The data in the data warehouse can be different types of data in various formats for disparate sources such as electronic health…
Affinity analytics is the practice of finding relationships and patterns in data. Businesses can use the results from affinity analytics for many positive impacts. Here are just two examples from real customer use cases. First, in retail, management wants to know what products typically sell well together for product placement and advertising purposes. This…
In every industry, the need to follow best practices exists. Data warehouse best practices are no exception. Best practices are methods or techniques excepted as a good way or best way to accomplish an activity, process, or practice. All practices evolve, but the best way to start is with a foundation of best practices…
Data warehouse vs database should you choose one or the other - or, in some cases, would you need both? Each has a purpose and a value for your organization. Each can be simple or complex; both support organizational decisions. In general, they are complementary. The question becomes which one do I need based…
Actian’s Ingres NeXt Initiative paves the way for transformation Are you considering modernizing either your Ingres database or your “green screen” ABF or thick-client OpenROAD applications? If so, you may have read about modernization options like those from Gartner listed below. Gartner has ranked these from easiest (Encapsulate) to most difficult (Replace). The easier…
Decisions within an organization are made in three possible ways. One way is based on the experience of the individual making the decision. The second way is based on analytics. The third way is based on a combination of one and two, knowledgeable experience and analytics. Based on experience or expertise in a subject,…
Hybrid cloud adoption is on the rise. As companies look to accelerate their cloud journey, it's becoming clear that there are numerous values - and constraints - when blending the use of private on-premises clouds with those of public off-premise clouds. Creating a strategic balance between the two can often yield more favorable results…
Semi-structured data is emerging as a critical element of business operations and strategies. Typically, business leaders make decisions based on analysis of data stored in forms, spreadsheets, and relational databases – in other words, structured data. However, in a modern business environment, constraining data with forms and tables is no longer sufficient. What is…
That's a Wrap! Wow! What a wonderful time we had at the 2021 Hybrid Data Conference! Over the course of two days, we showcased amazing demos, customer stories and technology advancements across the Actian portfolio. For those in attendance, we hope you enjoyed the event and opportunity to see a few of the ways…
The Actian Avalanche Hybrid Cloud Data Warehouse, with the fastest columnar analytics engine available in the market today, is now generally available on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) via Google Cloud and the Google Marketplace. For organizations that need the flexibility to scale dynamically yet pay only for the resources they need, that want an…
Today, Actian is excited to announce the delivery of Actian Avalanche hybrid cloud data platform on Google Cloud Marketplace. Avalanche is initially available in the us-east1 region, which will be expanded to include US West, German, and Irish cloud regions in the coming months. If you are interested in trying out Avalanche on Google Cloud,…
On-Premise, you’re grounded The emergence of the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and the ability to create a data lake of such unprecedented depths – on standard hardware no less! – was such a breakthrough that the administrative pain and the hardware costs involved with building out an HDFS-based analytic solution were acceptable casualties…
Tech stacks are getting more complicated by the day. Marketing Operations, Revenue Operations, Sales Operations, IT, Analytics, and Executives—we are all doing business using digital automations, including integrations, that allow us to target and interact with our customers and prospects in more meaningful and rewarding ways than ever before. Take a moment to consider.…
Processing data in real-time Every organization processes data in many ways. For example, batch data process still exists for heavy data-process workloads, such as payroll. Many of these data processing requirements are executed by batch scheduling software; however, there is a growing need for data processing to be more automated and processed in real-time.…
Databases Databases are everywhere. They store data and information organized by fields and tables. There are different types of databases that organize data into relational tables, hierarchical structures, networks, and objects. Databases can be personal, corporate, and shared resources. They can be used for recording business transactions to support decision making. The value of…
Which cloud makes sense? Nothing is perfect, but we want to approach perfection with continuous improvement and the management of risk in our business environments. IT capabilities and resources underpin our business environments. On-premise capabilities and cloud capabilities have to deliver a return on investment (ROI) for our efforts and, at the same time,…
A long time ago (read: before the COVID-19 pandemic started), companies around the world were interested in developing a full 360-degree view of their customers. The importance of creating a tailored, data-enhanced customer experience was understood, but formidable challenges—the fact that the data comprising an individual customer profile resides in so many disparate systems,…
Actian Avalanche on Google Kubernetes Engine Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) is now running containerized versions of Actian Avalanche cloud data warehouse, a high-performance hybrid cloud data warehouse designed to power an enterprise’s most demanding operational analytics workloads. Why is that important? Because now an enterprise can deploy one of the world’s most advanced data…
Why is this study different? OK, so that’s like saying the sky is blue on a clear sunny day, right? Actually, it’s cloudier than that – pun intended! If you talk to Cloud vendors, everything is moving to the cloud and has been for over a decade, so the glass is half full. If…
This month, GigaOm published a comprehensive evaluation of leading cloud data warehouse services based on performance and cost. Offerings analyzed included Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Microsoft Azure Synapse, Google BigQuery, and our very own Actian Avalanche. There are many intriguing results included in the report, but an indisputable conclusion was reached by GigaOm: "In a…
We are very excited to share the news that The Automobile Association (AA), the UK's largest motoring organization, selected Actian Avalanche hybrid cloud warehouse for its insurance business to execute its cloud migration strategy. The AA is a leading UK automobile insurer and breakdown service provider that provides vehicle insurance, driving lessons, breakdown coverage,…
The ISO 17788 Cloud Computing Overview and Vocabulary standard defines a hybrid cloud as “a cloud deployment model using at least two different cloud deployment models.” When we talk about different deployment models, we are talking about private clouds, public clouds with multiple different cloud providers, and even legacy applications. When the different deployment…
All customers are not equal – there are some your business just can’t afford to lose. Do you know who they are and what is required to retain them? With predictive analytics powered by Actian Avalanche, you can do just that. Companies have been using statistical modeling, data correlation and behavioral forecasting for many…
This may seem like an academic question, but it is increasingly becoming a reality for modern businesses. What do you do when you have millions of records with infinite width and depth, and your data warehouse chokes? Do you trim your data? Do you add more infrastructure capacity? Or do you need to look…
There's now an easier way to connect to Avalanche from Tableau using the new Actian ODBC connector available in the Tableau Extension Gallery. Actian and Tableau have partnered for the past several years to deliver a seamless connectivity experience to our customers. To take advantage of Tableau's latest analytical features, the two teams engaged…
When companies project data warehouse growth, they often look at a curve that mimic’s the growth of data in source systems. This approach works if all you are concerned with is storage growth. What is commonly overlooked is the compute growth curve for processing updates to your data. As IT systems become more interconnected,…
The Vector for Hadoop offering from Actian delivers increased performance for analytic queries without the associated increase in cost. If you are looking for high-performance analytics processing to drive operational decision making, where you do your processing matters. By minimizing the movement of data and processing locally, you can drastically reduce latency. By using…
I recently started a new blog series on why Real-Time Decision-Making is required during periods of market uncertainty. In this next blog, lets level set on exactly what is Real-Time Decision-Making and why it matters so much more during periods of market uncertainty and business disruption. Naturally, what got me thinking about all of…
How well do you know your customers? Do you know what they buy? Do you know when and why they make purchases? Do you know who influences their buying behavior? Do you know how price sensitive they are and what types of promotions they respond to? You should know these things. Connected data can…
The Opening of the Box As was the case with Pandora's box, once the lid is opened on cloud technology and you realize that perhaps the shiny new object interior didn't provide what you expected from your investment in the technology, it may be too late to change directions. So is the case with…
The era of data warehouse appliances is coming to an end, rapidly being replaced with a new generation of cloud services. The first data warehouse appliance was introduced onto the market in 2003. For nearly 15 years, this market grew with several large technology players, including IBM, Oracle, and Teradata developing or acquiring database…
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).…
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…
Robotic process automation (or RPA for short) is the term used to describe the next generation of technology-enabled workflow management capabilities. RPA solutions come in various sizes and shapes from a myriad of different vendors. RPA is the current buzzword and has enormous growth opportunity but integration is complex and requires expensive skills and…
You've been doing the "digital transformation" thing for a couple of years – integrating your business and IT processes and leveraging technology and data in new ways to drive greater operational efficiency and immersive customer experiences. Your users are happy, but management is starting to ask questions about what's next and how they can…
Does your company have a real-time connected data warehouse where you can aggregate data flowing in from all of your IT systems together with streaming data from IoT, mobile, and SaaS services? Can you easily connect your on-premises, cloud, and multi-cloud systems to enable centralized analytics? If so, that's awesome! Now for the big…
Are you considering a hybrid cloud data warehouse for your company? Do you know what features to look for? If you want to maximize the value of this important infrastructure investment and give yourself the flexibility to adapt to changing business needs in the future, you need not just pick any solution; you need…
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…
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…
We are pleased to announce a special offer of $0 cloud storage on AWS or Azure for customers of Avalanche. Details of the offer: You will receive up to 10TB Free Cloud Storage with your Avalanche subscription when you purchase a minimum of 4000 AU-hours in a one year contract. Additional Storage: Additional cloud storage is available…
You've gone through digital transformation - now what? IT and business leaders are learning quickly that digital transformation is only one of many steps on the journey towards operational optimization. Once you have your people and processes in order, it's time to shift focus towards your data. Digital transformation brings with it a whole…
There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about cloud data warehouses. One of the biggest ones is that all cloud data warehouses cost the same. On the surface, cloud data warehouse vendors may talk the same language – describing similar features, benefits and touting the performance gains of operating in the cloud. But…
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) has been an essential Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for the IT industry for many decades – and rightfully so. Large scale capital expenditures for IT infrastructure and data center resources were incurred at the onset of a project, allocated to different business functions and amortized (along with maintenance and…
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…
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…
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…
The Challenges of Connecting Disparate Data Sources and Migrating to a Cloud Data Warehouse 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…
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…
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…
Today we are excited to announce the release of Actian Avalanche on Microsoft Azure. Azure is growing significantly as a platform in the enterprise space and becoming the de facto choice for retail analytics. Hence, making Actian Avalanche available on Microsoft Azure has been a priority for us. With this release, Actian Avalanche is…
Actian Avalanche on Microsoft Azure launched this week with a free cloud storage offer. This post will walk you through getting set up on Avalanche on Azure. You must first have an Actian account as a customer of Avalanche or have signed up for a free trial. After you log in to the Avalanche service, you…
Today we announced the availability of Actian’s industry-leading Avalanche Cloud Data Warehouse Managed Service on Azure. Actian Avalanche is the only hybrid data warehouse solution on Azure and provides significant performance gains at a lower cost compared to alternatives. Learn why Avalanche on Azure makes sense for your business. We are also pleased to announce…
Moving applications to the cloud, users can benefit from various opportunities the cloud environment offers. One of these opportunities is the availability of a seemingly infinite amount of resources, enabling users to match their requirements by scaling their application according to their load. Nevertheless, load may change over time and does not always follow…
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…
If you are like most companies that currently use Teradata appliance, you may be exploring options for a new, modern data warehouse that is a better fit for today’s cloud-centric world. But don’t make the migration journey an afterthought. Teradata is a big, complex system full of rich, unique SQL syntax that predates standardization.…
Following is the third installment of our in-depth blog series examining the findings of the recent Actian Datacast 2019: Hybrid Data Trends Snapshot. The survey, which polled 303 IT professionals with influence or decision-making ability at their companies of 250+ employees, identified four key trends which were illustrated in the Datacast Infographic. Our weekly…
Last week we announced the findings of the Actian Datacast 2019: Hybrid Data Trends Snapshot, sharing insights into the current challenges as well as opportunities for data-driven enterprises around managing hybrid data environments. Our survey polled 303 IT professionals with influence and or decision-making ability at their companies of 500+ employees. As the first…
With certain models of Netezza reaching end-of-life, you may be considering your options for a new, modern data warehouse. But don’t make migration an afterthought. Migrations of terabytes of data, thousands of tables and views, specialized code and data types, and other proprietary elements do not happen overnight. Given the dependencies and complexities involved…
For software companies developing new solutions in the cloud, the overall mission can be a daunting proposition. Cloud is an ever-evolving landscape, where one piece of technology may be popular one day, only to be replaced for something better a little while later. Then, there is a slew of tech jargon along with an…
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…
Data warehouse modernization. Sounds like a no-brainer. Move your Netezza, Teradata or Exadata data warehouse that likely runs on obsolete, proprietary hardware to a shiny new system that runs in the cloud, costs a fraction of what you were paying before and can be turned on and off like a light switch. Is it that easy? That simple?…
As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “it’s not the destination it’s the journey”. Unfortunately, this wise saying is not nearly applied as often as it should be to the contemporary topic of data warehouse modernization project design and execution. The result, thousands of data warehouse modernization projects unnecessarily end up in failure. Gartner’s Adam…
So, you have made the business case to modernize your data warehouse. Good choice! A modernization project, done correctly can deliver compelling and predictable results to your organization including millions in cost savings, new analytics capabilities and greater agility. But how do you effectively go about choosing the right data warehouse to migrate to?…
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…
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…
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…
Actian Avalanche delivers an operational data warehouse as a managed service in the cloud. Its developer-friendly high-performance analytics engine has been proven to outperform other popular analytics platforms without specialized hardware or complicated software development. Requires minimal setup, provides automatic tuning to reduce database administration effort and enables highly-responsive end-user BI reporting. This is…
Implementing a data warehouse is a big investment for most companies and the decisions you make now will impact both your IT costs and the business value you are able to create for many years. This concise data warehouse cost/benefit guide will help you understand what to expect, so you can make informed decisions…
Actian Avalanche is the world’s fastest analytic data warehouse delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS). It has been designed for simplicity and doesn’t require any complex tuning to deliver consistent real-time performance for even the most challenging queries. Actian Avalanche is standards based, supporting the latest SQL, ODBC and JDBC standards, which enables it to easily fit into any…
Data Warehouse-as-a-Service (DWaaS) is a modern solution to address the data management challenges of today’s companies. Data is critical to how modern companies operate, from providing actionable analytics and insights to fueling digitally transformed business processes. Companies generate tremendous amounts of data each day, but to translate this resource into value, a company needs…
Actian Avalanche delivers an operational data warehouse as a managed service in the cloud. Its developer-friendly high-performance analytics engine has been proven to outperform other popular analytics platforms without specialized hardware or complicated software development. Actian Avalanche requires minimal setup, provides automatic tuning to reduce database administration effort and enables highly-responsive end-user BI reporting. This is how to connect…
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…
The speed of change in modern business is accelerating. New technologies, globalization, regulatory changes and competitors entering and leaving the market are just a few examples of the types of environmental forces that bombard companies every day. Developing a sustainable, competitive advantage requires company leaders to identify and respond to opportunities and threats quickly,…
Modern businesses move fast and the speed of business is accelerating every day with no sign of slowing. To survive, companies must find ways to remove friction in their systems and business processes – leveraging real-time operational data and translating it into actionable insights that drive activities across the company. From strategic decision-making to…