“Existing conditions” is a term for conditions that don’t last very long. Amazon changed the face of retail. Google democratized access to information. Facebook and pretty much every social media site has changed the way we interact with each other. Change came to Carrs Tool Steels, too. The U.K. supplier of tool steel and high-strength […]
Graph Databases: An Overview
The concept of graph databases traces back to Leonhard Euler. Euler was an 18th century Swiss mathematician who made several important discoveries in mathematics, such as infinitesimal calculus. In solving the “Seven Bridges of Königsberg” problem in 1736, Euler laid the foundations for graph theory. (He also got a fun shout-out in Hidden Figures when […]
Harvest Data Lineage to Build Effective Data Governance
Being able to trace data from its origin to its destination is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a must-have if you are to govern data — and of course you’ve got to govern data. Without metadata, data lineage can’t exist, and if data lineage can’t exist, neither can Data Governance. Metadata brings together assets and […]
Bringing Hyperconvergence Architecture and VDIs to Everyone
A hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) uses software and/or hardware to create an IT infrastructure that virtualizes all of the needed elements to create an efficient and highly functional computer processing system. An HCI includes compute, networking, and a storage combined together in a virtualized environment, and normally runs on easily purchased, off-the-shelf commercial servers. The primary […]
The Challenge of Scaling Transactional Databases
Generally speaking, databases are storage systems with various built-in software features to manage the movement of data within. A database management system (DBMS) describes software controlling other programs and applications. The creation and implementation of a well-designed database is a serious challenge. With the evolution of data volumes and constantly changing needs, new types of […]
Knowledge Graphs for Robust Data Governance
More data, more sources, more conflicts. More self-service reporting, more cross-functional analytics, more government and industry regulations. Without a way to govern all the data in their possession, businesses are not going to do well at creating reports or dashboards or building data consensus across departments. Nor will they feel confident that they’re not missing […]
A Brief History of Master Data
Master data is generally described as essential business data about people, places, and things. Master Data Management or MDM describes a system for managing the data, which is different than the actual data. Master data is not typically transactional data, but in some situations transactional data can be treated as master data. For instance, if […]
Artificial Intelligence and Enterprise Knowledge Graphs: Better Together
At the heart of things, an enterprise knowledge graph supports decision and process augmentation based on linked data. These models of knowledge domains are created by subject matter experts with the help of machine learning algorithms. They live as virtual data layers on top of existing databases or data sets to link both structured and […]
Graph Databases in the Spotlight
Graph databases are distinguished by relationships. Users can query, for example, the connections that relate a customer to an account that he or she owns, or how many degrees of separation exist between Kevin Bacon and Audrey Hepburn. Ontologies are a key underpinning, providing a data model to describe things in a database. Metadata and […]
Database Management Updates and Latest Solutions
The word “database” may be one of the most misunderstood words in business computing. Several years ago, database meant a collection of data (or a base of data). As structured databases became popular, data became more and more organized. Structured databases were followed by the DBMS (database management system), which controls the data and how […]