The world of data management is constantly changing. The DBTA 100 is our way of recognizing vendors who are evolving with the times and leading the charge to address new opportunities and requirements.
Today, data is on the move, streaming in to organizations and being stored in more repositories of greater variety than ever before. In transit and at rest, that data must be protected but also made available to more users so they can quickly glean insights and react to new opportunities.
The challenges facing data managers were laid out in a recent Unisphere Research report on enterprise data management, which noted that many companies now manage a staggering amount of structured, semistructured, and unstructured data. Close to 10% of respondents to the survey say they are managing 10PB of data or more.
Not only are data volumes on the rise, but the variety of data types and sources is leading to heightened complexity, as is the array of storage approaches, including internal, on-premises systems and cloud, the report noted. At the same time, companies have the ability to capture data from a larger variety of sources than ever before, including mobile devices, IoT sensors, and the web.
To help leverage all this data, new approaches are being embraced, and more are on the way. Hadoop and Spark are two open source technologies that aim to help with processing larger quantities of data. NoSQL and cloud databases are also being put to greater use. Artificial intelligence and machine learning offer the promise of predictive and prescriptive analytics, while blockchain distributed ledger technology is gaining attention as a potential disruptor in the data management space.
And yet, relational technologies continue to reign supreme, trusted MultiValue(sometimes referred to as the fifth NoSQL database) plays a key role in many organizations, and the mainframe is holding strong as a strategic platform due to its reliability, scalability, security, and performance.
Embracing the old and new, well-established and cutting edge, this fifth annual DBTA 100 list spotlights the companies that are dealing with evolving market demands through innovation in software, services, and hardware. The list includes long-established IT companies and newer upstarts anxious to shake up the data management space. And, as we do each year, we present “View from the Top” articles by company executives explaining how their organizations are uniquely addressing the data challenges of today—and tomorrow.
We encourage you to learn more about these companies by visiting their websites, and, to stay on top of the latest news, IT trends, and research, go to www.dbta.com.