In the face of a pandemic, data has become the core of every business today, especially with all the restrictions and nuances of a pandemic-driven economy. The nuances in today’s business landscape demands fast data processing, and companies have been rethinking their approach to data storage and management. The sources of data are constantly on the rise. As such, data processing and system architectures should be simplified to enable companies to catch up and meet the expectations of consumers. In-memory computing is now a viable option for most companies, with its ability to provide speed, simplicity, and scalability at minimal cost.
What is in-memory computing? Not a new technology by any means, in-memory computing or IMC was designed to simplify access to the constantly increasing number of data sources so that data processing can be done thousands of times faster. Compared to traditional solutions, IMC can keep up with current business intelligence (BI) requirements ”and these needs change depending on business goals. The adoption of IMC was slow at first, but with the dropping costs of RAM and the accessibility of SSD and persistent store technologies, it has become somewhat easier for companies to open up to IMC and its many benefits to businesses across industries.
Relational databases that rely on SQL query language and disk storage simply can’t handle the data demands of today’s businesses. Companies need to take control of their data, and in-memory computing is a technology that will help them do just that.
Why Businesses Should Consider IMC
If companies are looking for a fast, simple, and scalable data processing solution, IMC is the way to go. Organizations today deal with multiple data sources that churn out gigabytes of data each day. If they’re not equipped to deal with the large amounts of data, it will be challenging to keep afloat during these uncertain times. Companies need a way to unify data, choose what’s relevant to the business, and process them in a way that’s lightning fast but sustainable. As such, many companies are putting their money on a digital transformation. In light of the pandemic, companies have been reconsidering their data strategies, and with good reason. Data is now at the core of every business, and it will give businesses the competitive edge they need to thrive.
How does in-memory computing work, exactly?
IMC distributes data across an architecture that’s horizontally scalable, allowing it to provide lower latency compared to traditional computing solutions. It does away with the conventional paradigm of moving data to a separate database where it’s processed and then saving it back to the data store. This presents a host of challenges; not least of which is the bottleneck this data movement causes, especially considering that traditional solutions relied on disk instead of RAM. Real-time data processing can now be achieved with IMC because it eliminates disk I/O and leverages RAM to keep the most relevant and frequently accessed data within reach of the user.
Real-time insights are vital in today’s volatile business landscape. IMC empowers organizations to process data thousands of times faster through an innovative approach that takes advantage of the power of RAM. It processes data in parallel to provide real-time feedback that helps companies with business decision making and forecasting. This makes IMC an ideal solution for businesses across industries, especially those that handle large amounts of data and use applications for hybrid transactional/analytical processing (HTAP).
Benefits of IMC
IMC has been adopted by companies in recent years because of its evident benefits and in light of the changing business needs during the pandemic. Data-driven decision making in business has become a vital asset, and the exponential growth of big data has been its major driver. With data being considered one of the most important business elements today, the future looks bright for IMC and the organizations that make it a part of their data strategy. Here are just a few ways IMC will revolutionize data strategies and computing in general.
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It provides a memory-centric platform
The cost of RAM continues to drop through the years, and this will help in showing businesses the advantage of persistent store capabilities. One of its main advantages is it allows the amount of data to exceed the amount of memory. This optimizes data so it can reside both on disk and in memory. -
It provides accessibility
As adoption grows, IMC becomes more viable for businesses both big and small. At present, it has specific use cases in several industries, including retail, healthcare, and financial services. -
It overcomes past limitations
Companies no longer need to work around the limitations of traditional computing approaches. IMC is able to reduce network bottlenecks by using RAM to store data across several computers within a network.
Conclusion
In-memory computing has helped businesses make a paradigm shift in their approach to data and how it’s handled. Data is now a vital factor in business, and companies should have the proper system in place to help them manage the data they produce each day. IMC is the ideal solution. The costs may drive away some organizations, but these same organizations may find themselves needing to reconsider in the future, as the onslaught of big data shows no signs of waning. When they consider the big picture and the long-term ROI, however, they’ll see that the costs more than pay for themselves.
