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Grid Solutions that Target Data Virtualization

Enterprise Grids

There are currently four types of grids that include Compute, Data, Services and Autonomic. Informatica, MetaMatrix, Unicorn and WebMethods are key players with reference to data virtualization. Data grid virtualization technologies are maturing quickly and being deployed by top-tier private sectors firms (Merrill Lynch and MetLife) and various U.S. Government Agencies. Data grid virtualization:

  • Creates an abstract layer between the data and the user.
  • Enables a business or organization to link multiple-source databases.
  • Allows developers to work on the virtual layer, while the business or organization connects, enhances, restructures the underlying databases without the users knowledge.

Solutions that Target Data Virtualization

Data virtualization solutions create virtual data repositories by capturing, normalizing and modeling the meta data layer of various databases spread throughout a business or organization. This creates a virtualized view and access layer to the data without replicating the data. As a result, these types of solutions enable users and applications to get centralized data access and analytics without creating a massive physical central data warehouse.

Point to Point Versus Hub and Spoke

Point-to-point (P2P) and hub-and-spoke (H&S) architectures both provide value in various areas of the enterprise. The following are their salient points:

Point to Point. P2P is a mechanism best suited for high transactions between single systems using one technology. This type architecture works best when limited to few systems only within a single technology such as:

  • Enterprise Information Integration (EII) - MetaMatrix
  • Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) - WebMethods
  • Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) - Informatica

P2P solutions are well matched to the financial services industry because of their ability to handle data relating to high volume transactions in such areas as equity or debt order management systems (OMS).

Advantage: Simplified deployment characteristics.
Disadvantage: Limited to only a finite number of data sources.

Hub and Spoke. This type of architecture supports many systems within all technologies. It allows users to trace impacts between system and between technologies. For example, a data source connected to an application is moved to a data warehouse (ETL) and linked to a query on another data source (EII) to feed an application source EAI. P2P would lose this transaction. H&S allows it to be tracked, traced and managed (the impacts with changes). This type of architecture is quite valuable in the government sector because of its ability to handle a large number of data sources. For example, the EPA, which is comprised of 10 regions that harvest their own data relating to various areas such as air, soil, water, etc.

Advantage: The ability to handle and expand data sources seamlessly.
Disadvantage: Longer deployment cycle compared with point-to-point solutions.

A key player in the H&S arena is Unicorn.

Expect data grid solutions that target data virtualization to play an ever-increasing role in the enterprise over the next 10 years. In addition, anticipate traditional database vendors (e.g., IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Sybase, etc.) to provide increased grid support for their premier database offerings during this important time period. One last caveat, as with past and present EAI or EII offerings, both P2P and H&S provide value. However, as the number of data sources increase, businesses and organizations will find the H&S methodology not only to be more pliable but better at seamlessly integrating these new data sources into their existing environments.

References:
Tabb, Larry. "Grid Computing in Financial Markets: Moving Beyond Compute-Intensive Applications."

Informatica: www.informatica.com
MetaMatrix: www.metamatrix.com
Unicorn: www.unicorn.com
WebMethods: www.webmethods.com


Russell Ruggiero is a senior IT analyst. He is the acting chairman of HumanMarkup.org. Ruggiero has authored more than 150 articles and reports for well-respected firms that include Gartner, Inc. and Source Media. He may be reached at rrugg55041@aol.com.

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