Informatica Perspectives

OK, so there is a lot of talk about cloud computing. It struck me that the fundamental problem facing enterprises is on two fronts:

Firstly, do you trust where your data is going. Security is just one aspect of ensuring trust. The leading SaaS vendors have done a ton of work to ensure that the data is secured once it enters their systems. They also provide interfaces that allow for secure reading and writing of data to and from their applications. Our software plugs in seamlessly into those interfaces (transport encryption, message encryption, etc.) and ensures that we can pick up, transport over the Internet, and deliver sensitive data to and from these SaaS applications for data integration. Furthermore, our own OnDemand service is in itself a SaaS application, and much like other SaaS vendors we also guarantee that data is secured and managed redundantly once it enters our OnDemand systems.

Secondly, can you link it into your core business processes? Achieving this is when cloud computing really transitions from non-core capabilities to truly core mainstream business processes. This is also where real-time data integration plays a critical role. Fundamentally you are looking to extend your existing enterprise into the clouds and leveraging some far-off, beyond-the-firewall service. We now live in a world where everything seems to have to be done at the speed of "NOW". Hence the need for real-time integration - after all, most web activities are in your face "NOW". You want to be able to see your query "NOW", you want to do your analysis "NOW". You don't want to wait for the batch process to happen and sit around until the data is ready for analysis tomorrow - you want it "NOW".

The cool thing about the Informatica platform is that you can have your cake and eat it - we think of a data source in the clouds as "just another data source". We enable you to reach out from your existing enterprise and integrate your chosen cloud platform as though it were just another data source in your existing enterprise. You pull the data in real-time using Orchestration and change data capture - just like you would for any other data source. And you get to see it "NOW"!

So we launched a real-time campaign about the importance of being able to use your data "NOW". If you have time, please go take a look at the Real-Time Data Integration section of the Informatica web site where you can find loads of materials focusing on the importance of Real-Time Data Integration. I hope you like it - let me know what you think.