Today, large enterprise organizations are struggling with an ocean of data. From online shopping analytics to the Internet of Things (IoT) sensor data, the modern IT team is inundated with raw or semi-raw data captured from every side of the organization. These entities have begun dumping this raw data into a holding tank called the data lake until they can make use of all of the non-defined, schema-less information. Data that hasn’t yet reached its full potential can now be housed in Microsoft’s Azure Data Lake, a robust cloud-driven repository for big data. This article explains what the Azure Data Lake is and how it can be used for data analytics on a massive scale.
What is the Azure Data Lake?
The Azure Data Lake is a giant computer repository of information stored in the public cloud. For organizations attempting to house data on-premise, the cloud offers a secure, virtually unlimited solution for the big data we’re generating today.
The backbone of the Azure Data Lake is the Hadoop File System, which ensures massive computing of petabyte-sized files. But the Azure Data Lake isn’t meant just as a Grand Canyon-sized holding tank; it also enables data scientists, marketers, and analysts to run data lake analytics to begin to understand the data as a first step toward using it effectively.
Microsoft now offers the Azure Data Lake along with data visualization and data lake analytics tools that can change how enterprise organizations handle their most basic processes around the capture and management of data. Together, these tools provide real business insights for enterprise organizations in any industry or market.
Azure Data Lake – Business Benefits
The Azure Data Lake helps streamline the efficiency of your data storage by allowing enterprise organizations to quickly query, process, and store data. One benefit is that the Azure Data Lake is housed in the cloud, which means it is incredibly scalable and flexible. Beyond that, the data lake analytics you need can run concurrently; executions can effectively occur across hundreds of data terabytes more quickly than you’ve ever experienced, allowing you faster access to key business insights.
Azure Data Lake also integrates effectively with data warehouses or other platforms so you can move data in its raw form to a more structured environment such as a data warehouse.
Azure Data Lake and Data Lake Analytics
The Azure Data Lake allows high throughput data lake analytics of all your raw and semi-structured data. It is the perfect solution for organizations seeking to meld a data lake with a data warehouse. Together, Azure Data Lake and data lake analytics allow for real-time actionable insights moving at the speed of your business.
Are you interested in learning more about Microsoft Azure cloud analytics services and how they can give your business a competitive advantage?
Contact us to explore how a data lake can help your organization to realize the full potential of its data.
