Virtualize, Don’t Centralize
My boss used to say “the world would be a much simpler place without all these damn people in it.” It was a joke and a practical truth. Take data. The appetite for data is inexhaustible. It’s common for a large enterprise to have 10,000 databases or more thanks to all those damn people.
Some firms embark on a quest to centralize data. Paradoxically, centralization increases complexity. Eventually, centralized databases look like the Stockholm Telephone Tower. Built in 1887, it connected telephone lines in Sweden. It was renovated four times and burned down in 1952.
What a mess!
There’s a better way: virtualization. Data virtualization makes 10,000 databases look like a single centralized source without the physical connections. Instead of moving data into a central store, you leave it alone. Data engineers create virtual data views that suit the data needs of all those people. Data sources appear when needed, and go away after use. New views are created in minutes. Security and authentication work like a centralized store.
Virtualization provides the benefits of a central database without the tower and wires.
The benefit of virtualization is agility. KBTG Bank in Thailand uses virtualization to create new views in hours instead of months.
Virtualize, don’t centralize.
Firms that centralize data are building Stockholm Telephone Towers
