Data Virtualization for Business Intelligence Systems: Revolutionizing Data Integration for Data Warehouses

Congratulations to my friend Rick van der Lans on his new book on data virtualization titled Data Virtualization for Business Intelligence Systems: Revolutionizing Data Integration for Data Warehouses.

A Great Service to the IT Community

When Judy Davis and I wrote Data Virtualization: Going Beyond Traditional Data Integration to Achieve Business Agility, our goal was to introduce data virtualization to a broader audience using real data virtualization case studies from a variety of industries.

Rick applied a different, but equally important approach. Rick drills into more detail on how data virtualization works, with heavy focus of its relevance to key IT challenges such as agile BI, MDM, data governance and more, as well as data virtualization’s technical implementation, via a deeper dive into the leading data virtualization technology platforms including the Composite Data Virtualization Platform, Denodo and Informatica.

In Rick’s Own Words

On the back cover, Rick provides a more complete summary of the book’s content and more significantly the book’s value.

“Data virtualization can make business intelligence systems dramatically simpler, cheaper, and more importantly, more agile.  Learn what data virtualization is and how and why it should be used….Data Virtualization for Business Intelligence Systems….explains how data virtualization works, the impact it has on business intelligence systems, which techniques are used under the hood to optimize access to various data sources and how these products can be applied in different projects.

You’ll learn the difference is between this new form of data integration and older forms, such as ETL and replication, and gain a clear understanding of how data virtualization really works.

Data Virtualization for Business Intelligence Systems outlines the advantages and disadvantages of data virtualization and illustrates how this revolutionary technology should be applied in data warehouse environments.

The book also contains tips and dos and don’ts on how to adopt data virtualization, provides guidelines on how to use it efficiently and effectively.

van der Lans also describes the relationship between data virtualization and related topics, such as master data management, governance, and information management, so you come away with a big-picture understanding as well as all the practical know-how you need to virtualize your data.”

One Plus One = Three

In the spring of 2011, as Judy and I were half way through the writing of Data Virtualization: Going Beyond Traditional Data Integration to Achieve Business Agility, Rick called to tell me he was considering writing a book about data virtualization and what did I think of the idea.

While I was momentarily shocked, I told him I thought it was a great idea and that I would be pleased to assist him in every way.  And at that point, as it was the fair and right thing to do, I disclosed to him that we too were writing a data virtualization book.

Rick also rapidly recovered from this revelation and in parallel graciously offered to his assistance as well. 

At that time, I was pleased we were aligned for mutual success. 

Since that time, I have found our collaboration to be a wonderful experience.

And today, as I savor Rick’s excellent book, I am thrilled with the result.

Well done my friend.  Bravo!