Ever wonder where the phrase, “Good things come in threes” comes from? It’s actually from the Latin derivation, “Omne trium perfuctum,”  which suggests that things that come in threes are inherently more satisfying than things of any other number.  

With this principle in mind, this blog introduces the third book to be written on data virtualization, “Data Virtualization: Selected Writings,” recently published by my friend, independent analyst Rick van der Lans of R20/Consultancy. 

Below I interview Rick about his new book as well as the state of data virtualization adoption today:

Let’s start with the basics, how do you define data virtualization?

“Two words capture the essence of data virtualization, ‘abstraction’ and ‘decoupling.’ With data virtualization, I can decouple data producers and data stores from data consumers. I can present a heterogeneous set of data stores as one logical (or virtual) database to all the data consumers using whatever language or tool they want. In addition, abstraction allows me to transform, aggregate, filter, and secure this data in every possible way.”

After many years in the making, data virtualization is now a hot topic in the market, why is that?

“I think there are two reasons. First, the economy is doing much better than when products such as TIBCO^® Data Virtualization first appeared on the market over a dozen years ago. Second, today so many organizations are striving to fulfill their digital transformation dreams, and to do that they need access to data. They need to use the data more extensively and widely. Data virtualization allows data to be accessed and unlocked more quickly and easily than many other technologies.”

We each wrote books about data virtualization several years ago, what inspired you to write a new book on the topic?

“Your book, “Data Virtualization: Going Beyond Traditional Data Integration to Achieve Business Agility,” did a great job providing case studies of successful data virtualization users, which educated organizations about what was possible. And my book, “Data Virtualization for Business Intelligence Systems: Revolutionizing Data Integration for Data Warehouses,” addressed deeper technical and architectural considerations and thus educated organizations about where data virtualization fits in their data and analytics infrastructures.  

But since those books were published, the market has embraced data virtualization. So, today’s challenges are more operational and thus require more focused, pragmatic guidance on data virtualization adoption. By compiling a set of my most relevant data virtualization articles and whitepapers, this third book seeks to address this need, hopefully helping the adopters with current issues they struggle with.”

Who should read this book and why?

“I would say anyone involved in designing and developing modern, flexible data architectures and business intelligence systems. But also database specialists should know what you can do and cannot do with data virtualization.”

I noticed that our product, TIBCO^® Data Virtualization (TDV), was mentioned in your book.  Can you expand on your relationship with TIBCO? 

“While I remain vendor-neutral in my work with end-user clients, from the day I started to study data virtualization in more detail, I have always had a great relationship with the people behind TDV. They have been very helpful in supplying me with the right product information. Also, we have worked cooperatively on numerous whitepapers, covering various aspects of data virtualization, including some of the material included this book.”

One last question.  How can readers get a copy of “Data Virtualization: Selected Writings?” 

“That’s an easy question. It’s only available as an eBook. Just go to lulu.com and search for the title. Or you can use this link.

I hope people will enjoy the book and that it will help them to understand data virtualization and related topics, such as the logical data warehouse and the data delivery platform.” 

Three More Good Things 

Thanks, Rick, and congratulations on delivering this insightful book! Interested in learning more about data virtualization? Let’s keep the blessing of threes going, here are the three new additional things you can check out:

1. Our on-demand webinar on Developing Modern Data Lakes with Data Virtualization (featuring Rick!)
2. A quick infographic on the benefits you’ll see with TIBCO Data Virtualization 
3. A technical guide by Rick van der Lans on the Data Vault and Data Virtualization: Double Agility

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