June 2, 2017
One of the strongest trends in data architecture today is toward environments consisting of numerous data platforms where data is physically distributed across multiple database servers, file systems, and storage. When numerous diverse data platforms are integrated for multiple use cases, it is called a hybrid data ecosystem (HDE), which provides options for rapidly diversifying data and its business use. The HDE concept was invented and popularized by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) in 2012.
Users find it difficult to wrap their heads around the extreme complexity of the ecosystem. Data moves from platform to platform relentlessly, and many of the new data types, platforms, and analytics use cases supported by an HDE are new to users. Perhaps the greatest challenge of an HDE is to design, maintain, and optimize the performance of multiplatform processes.
Despite these hurdles, users are succeeding with HDEs. This TDWI Checklist Report drills into the data requirements of the HDE with a focus on the role of data virtualization. The goal of the report is to accelerate user understanding of evolving data architectures and related tools and practices so user organizations are better equipped to modernize and integrate hybrid data ecosystems.