Access to Data with Data Federation

Sybase Data Federation simplifies data access by providing one unified data layer with a single data catalog.

Applications, application developers, and end users all need access to accurate, consistent, and current data to do their jobs. Applications need data to fuel business processes and provide information to decision-makers. Application developers need to integrate data into their applications. Knowledge workers need access to data to make decisions.

Developers and integrators spend hours finding or managing data, and hours writing code to integrate, aggregate, and transform data from multiple sources around the organization. With easy access to data, this time could be spent more productively. For developers this means simple, industry-standard APIs that provide data in the form needed by applications.

Data Federation helps you simplify data access by providing one unified data layer with a single data catalog. With this unified approach:

Users and developers do not need to know where data is physically located. They can search in one central location—the data catalog—to find the data they need.
Applications reference data by catalog entry, which means that data locations need not be hard-coded. References to catalog entries are resolved dynamically at runtime.
Data is available using a number of protocols and interfaces so users and applications can use the means that is most appropriate.
Applications use one standard set of interfaces for accessing data (one JDBC driver, for example), regardless of the specifics of the data source.

Real-Time Access
Data owners can grant access to original data while using caching and other mechanisms to safeguard production systems. As a result, data can be made available to users and applications much more efficiently. Data owners can set the frequency of cache updates based on the importance of fresh data to the data consumer’s business goal.
Data Access for Users
Users who only access file data and do not need other features can have completely transparent access to Sybase Data Federation data through standard file system protocols. They see only their standard file system and do not even need to know they are accessing data through Data Federation.
Data Access for Applications
Applications can access data using ODBC/JDBC, file read/write, and web services/SOAP.
Searching and Metadata
One benefit of a unified data catalog is that users can search the entire set of objects or any meaningful subset.
Caching
Sybase Data Federation uses caching to insulate production data sources from haphazard access, to maintain good performance for users and applications, to refresh data in a granular way based on business needs, and to ensure maximum data availability.
Auditing and Compliance
Data Federation has audit logging capabilities that help ensure the security of your customer information and other data and enable you to comply with legal requirements for internal/external control systems.

Parent topic: Introduction to Data Federation