What is Data Virtualization in Cloud Computing?

Data virtualization in cloud computing is an approach to data management whereby applications access and manipulate data from various sources without having to move or copy it. It enables one to offer a unified view of a variety of platforms, mainly mainframe, relational, big data, and cloud databases and offers real-time access while also reducing the amount of errors in the data. This type of virtualization makes use of cloud elasticity and scalability to provision on-demand compute resources, ideally suited for agile analysis and decision-making on data.

Key Features of data virtualization in cloud computing:

• Real-time Access: Allows one instant access to data without moving or replicating it.
• Unified View: Brings together data from heterogeneous sources into a single, open layer.
• Scalability: It allows scalability in the cloud on-demand compute resources.
• Data Abstraction: It makes the end user free from technical complications concerning storing or retrieving data.
• Cost-effectiveness: Minimizing storage for data at its source and the pay-as-you-go model for computations.

Benefits of data virtualization in cloud computing:

• Improves the agility and decision-making of the business.
• Will lessen data errors and the workload of classical ETL.
• Will help in advanced analytics capabilities like data mining and machine learning.
• Provides savings by maximizing storage and compute resources.