Analytics Database Defined

An analytics database is a read-only system that stores and manages big data, including historical business, market and customer data for business intelligence analysis. An analytics database is typically part of a data warehouse or data mart. They are specially optimized for faster queries and scalability.

Analytical databases features include column-based storage, in-memory loading of compressed data and the ability to search data through multiple attributes.

There currently are five main types of analytic databases on the market:

• Columnar databases – which organize data by columns instead of row,  reducing the number of data elements that have to be read by the database engine.
• Data warehouse appliances – which combine the database with hardware and business intelligence tools in an integrated platform.
• In-memory databases – which load the source data into system memory in a compressed, non-relational format to streamline the work involved in processing queries.
• Massively parallel processing (MPP) databases – which spread data across a cluster of servers, enabling the systems to share the query processing workload.
• Online analytical processing (OLAP) databases – which store multidimensional “cubes” of aggregated data for analyzing information based on multiple data attributes.

Benefits of an analytics database include:

• Efficient data compression — Analytical databases have columnar designs, allowing for efficient data compression.
• Distributed workloads — Data is stored on a cluster of servers called nodes, allowing for efficient processing of large volumes of data.
• Horizontal scalability – ability to increase capacity by connecting multiple hardwares or software entities so that they work as a single unit.
• SQL compatibility
• Advanced math and statistical functionality

In Data Defined, we help make the complex world of data more accessible by explaining some of the most complex aspects of the field.Click Here for more Data Defined