Prime 10 information lake answer distributors in 2022

Because the world turns into more and more data-driven, companies should discover appropriate options to assist them obtain their desired outcomes. Data lake storage has garnered the eye of many organizations that must retailer giant quantities of unstructured, uncooked info till it may be utilized in analytics functions.

The info lake answer market is anticipated to develop quickly within the coming years and is pushed by distributors that supply cost-effective, scalable options for his or her clients.

Study extra about information lake options, what key options they need to have and among the prime distributors to think about this yr. 

What’s an information lake answer?

An information lake is outlined as a single, centralized repository that may retailer large quantities of unstructured and semi-structured info in its native, uncooked type. 

It’s frequent for a company to retailer unstructured data in an information lake if it hasn’t determined how that info can be used. Some examples of unstructured information embrace pictures, paperwork, movies and audio. These information varieties are helpful in as we speak’s superior machine studying (ML) and superior analytics functions.

Information lakes differ from information warehouses, which retailer structured, filtered info for particular functions in information or folders. Information lakes have been created in response to among the limitations of data warehouses. For instance, information warehouses are costly and proprietary, can’t deal with sure enterprise use circumstances a company should deal with, and will result in undesirable info homogeneity.

On-premise information lake options have been generally used earlier than the widespread adoption of the cloud. Now, it’s understood that among the greatest hosts for information lakes are cloud-based platforms on the edge due to their inherent scalability and significantly modular providers. 

A 2019 report from the Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO) highlights several business benefits of using the cloud, together with higher customer support and the acquisition of cost-effective choices for IT administration providers.

Cloud information lakes and on-premise information lakes have execs and cons. Companies ought to think about value, scale and obtainable technical assets to determine which sort is greatest.

Learn extra about information lakes: What is a data lake? Definition, benefits, architecture and best practices

5 must-have options of an information lake answer

It’s important to know what contains a information lake affords. Most options include the identical core elements, however every vendor could have particular choices or distinctive promoting factors (USPs) that would affect a enterprise’s resolution.

Under are 5 key options each information lake ought to have:

1. Varied interfaces, APIs and endpoints

Information lakes that supply numerous interfaces, APIs and endpoints could make it a lot simpler to add, entry and transfer info. These capabilities are vital for an information lake as a result of it permits unstructured information for a variety of use circumstances, relying on a enterprise’s desired consequence.

2. Assist for or connection to processing and analytics layers

ML engineers, information scientists, decision-makers and analysts profit most from a centralized information lake answer that stores information for easy access and availability. This attribute can assist information professionals and IT managers work with information extra seamlessly and effectively, thus enhancing productiveness and serving to firms attain their targets.

3. Strong search and cataloging options

Think about an information lake with giant quantities of data however no sense of group. A viable information lake answer should incorporate generic organizational strategies and search capabilities, which offer essentially the most worth for its customers. Different options would possibly embrace key-value storage, tagging, metadata, or instruments to categorise and acquire subsets of data.

4. Safety and entry management

Safety and entry management are two must-have options with any digital software. The present cybersecurity panorama is increasing, making it simpler for risk actors to use an organization’s information and trigger irreparable harm. Solely sure customers ought to have entry to an information lake, and the answer will need to have sturdy safety to guard delicate info.

5. Flexibility and scalability

Extra organizations are rising bigger and working at a a lot sooner fee. Information lake options have to be versatile and scalable to fulfill the ever-changing wants of recent companies working with info.

Additionally learn: Unlocking analytics with data lake and graph analysis

Prime 10 information lake answer distributors in 2022

Some information lake options are greatest fitted to companies in sure industries. In distinction, others may fit nicely for an organization of a specific dimension or with a particular variety of workers or clients. This may make selecting a possible information lake answer vendor difficult. 

Corporations contemplating investing in an information lake answer this yr ought to take a look at among the distributors beneath.

1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

The AWS Cloud gives many important instruments and providers that enable firms to construct an information lake that meets their wants. The AWS information lake answer is extensively used, cost-effective and user-friendly. It leverages the safety, sturdiness, flexibility and scalability that Amazon S3 object storage affords to its customers. 

The info lake also features Amazon DynamoDB to deal with and handle metadata. AWS information lake affords an intuitive, web-based console consumer interface (UI) to handle the info lake simply. It additionally kinds information lake insurance policies, removes or provides information packages, creates manifests of datasets for analytics functions, and options search information packages.

2. Cloudera

Cloudera is one other prime information lake vendor that can create and preserve secure, safe storage for all information varieties. A few of Cloudera SDX’s Information Lake Service capabilities embrace:

• Information schema/metadata info
• Metadata administration and governance
• Compliance-ready entry auditing
• Information entry authorization and authentication for improved safety

Different advantages of Cloudera’s information lake embrace product help, downloads, neighborhood and documentation. GSK and Toyota leveraged Cloudera’s data lake to garner important enterprise intelligence (BI) insights and handle information analytics processes.

3. Databricks 

Databricks is one other viable vendor, and it additionally affords a handful of knowledge lake alternate options. The Databricks Lakehouse Platform combines the best elements of knowledge lakes and warehouses to supply reliability, governance, safety and efficiency.

Databricks’ platform helps break down silos that usually separate and complicate information, which frustrates information scientists, ML engineers and different IT professionals. Except for the platform, Databricks additionally affords its Delta Lake answer, an open-format storage layer that may enhance information lake administration processes. 

4. Domo

Domo is a cloud-based software program firm that may present big data options to all firms. Customers have the liberty to decide on a cloud structure that works for his or her enterprise. Domo is an open platform that may increase current information lakes, whether or not it’s within the cloud or on-premise. Customers can use mixed cloud choices, together with:

• Selecting Domo’s cloud
• Connecting to any cloud information
• Deciding on a cloud information platform

Domo affords superior security measures, corresponding to BYOK (carry your individual key) encryption, management information entry and governance capabilities. Properly-known firms corresponding to Nestle, DHL, Cisco and Comcast leverage the Domo Cloud to higher handle their wants.

5. Google Cloud

Google is one other huge tech participant providing clients information lake options. Corporations can use Google Cloud’s information lake to research any information securely and cost-effectively. It could actually deal with giant volumes of data and IT professionals’ numerous processing duties. Corporations that don’t need to rebuild their on-premise information lakes within the cloud can simply carry and shift their info to Google Cloud. 

Some key options of Google’s information lakes embrace Apache Spark and Hadoop migration, that are absolutely managed providers, built-in information science and analytics, and price administration instruments. Main firms like Twitter, Vodafone, Pandora and Metro have benefited from Google Cloud’s information lakes.

6. HP Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is one other information lake answer vendor that may assist companies harness the facility of their huge information. HPE’s answer known as GreenLake — it affords organizations a really scalable, cloud-based answer that simplifies their Hadoop experiences. 

HPE GreenLake is an end-to-end solution that features software program, {hardware} and HPE Pointnext Providers. These providers can assist companies overcome IT challenges and spend extra time on significant duties. 

7. IBM

Enterprise know-how chief IBM additionally affords information lake options for firms. IBM is well-known for its cloud computing and information analytics options. It’s an amazing alternative if an operation is on the lookout for an acceptable information lake answer. IBM’s cloud-based method operates on three key ideas: embedded governance, automated integration and virtualization.

These are some information lake options from IBM: 

• IBM Db2
• IBM Db2 BigSQL
• IBM Netezza
• IBM Watson Question
• IBM Watson Data Catalog
• IBM Cloud Pak for Information

With so many information lakes obtainable, there’s certainly one to suit an organization’s distinctive wants. Monetary providers, healthcare and communications companies usually use IBM information lakes for numerous functions.

8. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft affords its Azure Information Lake answer, which options straightforward storage strategies, processing, and analytics utilizing numerous languages and platforms. Azure Information Lake additionally works with an organization’s current IT investments and infrastructure to make IT administration seamless.

The Azure Information Lake answer is reasonably priced, complete, safe and supported by Microsoft. Corporations profit from 24/7 help and experience to assist them overcome any huge information challenges they might face. Microsoft is a frontrunner in enterprise analytics and tech options, making it a preferred alternative for a lot of organizations.

9. Oracle

Corporations can use Oracle’s Huge Information Service to construct information lakes to handle the inflow of data wanted to energy their enterprise selections. The Huge Information Service is automated and can present customers with an reasonably priced and comprehensive Hadoop data lake platform based mostly on Cloudera Enterprise. 

This answer can be utilized as an information lake or an ML platform. One other vital characteristic of Oracle is it is likely one of the greatest open-source information lakes obtainable. It additionally comes with Oracle-based instruments so as to add much more worth. Oracle’s Huge Information Service is scalable, versatile, safe and can meet information storage necessities at a low value.

10. Snowflake

Snowflake’s information lake answer is safe, dependable and accessible and helps companies break down silos to enhance their methods. The highest options of Snowflake’s information lake embrace a central platform for all info, quick querying and safe collaboration.

Siemens and Devon Power are two companies that provide testimonials relating to Snowflake’s information lake options and supply optimistic suggestions. One other advantage of Snowflake is its intensive associate ecosystem, together with AWS, Microsoft Azure, Accenture, Deloitte and Google Cloud.

The significance of choosing the proper information lake answer vendor 

Corporations that spend additional time researching which distributors will supply one of the best enterprise information lake options for them can handle their info higher. Moderately than select any vendor, it’s greatest to think about all choices obtainable and decide which options will meet the precise wants of a company.

Each enterprise makes use of info, some greater than others. Nonetheless, the world is turning into extremely data-driven — due to this fact, leveraging the fitting information options will solely develop extra vital within the coming years. This listing will assist firms determine which information lake answer vendor is true for his or her operations.

Learn subsequent: Get the most value from your data with data lakehouse architecture