Data Is the Lifeblood of Business

By Gregory Ness
May 24, 2005

Article URL: http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=10263_0_4_0_C

In my previous column, I shared the first half of a recent interview with Silicon Valley luminary and marketing guru Regis McKenna. In the second half of that interview - which is presented here - Mr. McKenna talks about his involvement with GoldenGate Software and shares his perspective on real time's impact on government agency operations.

What kinds of companies do you expect to benefit from the shift to the real-time enterprise? I can't think of any function or company that wouldn't benefit from having accurate, accessible, real-time transactional data. Globalization demands 24-hour access to data. Think of all the diverse activities that depend on fast and accurate data transfer: equity market and currency changes, patient monitoring and prescription tracking, account balances, user authentication, help desks, movies-on-demand, inventories, sales, manufacturing, production processes, supply-chain processes, outsourcing management, scheduling, error tracking, electronic funds transfer (EFT), customer complaints, promotion programs. Now is not only better, it's a necessity.

I see you're on the board of GoldenGate Software (a provider of transactional data management [TDM] solutions). Is there a connection between what that company does and your passion for real time? And how do you expect that organization to make its mark? GoldenGate is perhaps the best-kept secret in the industry. Every enterprise today depends on one foundation - data. It's the lifeblood that drives business, no matter the industry. Today's CIO is no longer concerned about where and how to store data; instead, he or she is worried about speeding data integration and making data accessible across all business units in real time (while still ensuring its accuracy and integrity). Instant access to data is critical for making decisions, reacting, and innovating. The burden is on IT to support the necessary exchange and integration of data.

By looking at data transactions, GoldenGate has found a way to move data in real time, eliminating latency without compromising data integrity. No other technology vendor has "cracked the code" for data in quite this way. Whether it's data integration, compliance, disaster recovery, or another business initiative, GoldenGate can be used across the enterprise, on multiple platforms and databases, in many ways.

I read in the Economist a few months ago that IDC found that as much as 75% of IT budgets today are spent on "fixing things" rather than buying new systems. Finding an error in a database haystack can be time consuming and costly, but GoldenGate is transforming the traditional idea of "disaster recovery" to mean verified transaction integrity anywhere, anytime in real time. It solves data management problems before they arise by ensuring that data capture, routing, and backup are accurate to begin with. Many of the best-known companies in the world are standardizing on GoldenGate; I expect you'll be hearing a lot more about it in the near future.

If you were to borrow an idea from Tom Peters and write In Search of the Real-Time Enterprise, what companies would be on your shortlist as examples? I think that GoldenGate is a pioneer in real-time data integration and reliability. I also think its customer list would include some of the obvious leaders. Many health care and financial institutions absolutely must operate in real time. When data can mean the difference between life and death, real time is paramount. There are organizations out there leading the way, and others will follow. This is the way of technology: Pioneers show the way; history shows that others will follow.

How far is government lagging behind enterprises when it comes to real time? Funny you should ask that question soon after April 15! The U.S. government runs the largest data warehouses in the world. More and more taxpayers are required to report and pay using electronic forms and EFT. I suspect this will extend down to the individual taxpayer sometime in the future. The task and cost of assuring compliance and accuracy is huge. The central nervous systems of the most efficient and operationally productive government agencies will rely on 100 percent reliable, real-time data.

One of the most important IT factors to arise from 9/11 (and from increasing government debt) is the need for data integration - which is a nice way of saying, 'Let's save time and money by sharing information across various agencies.' That's a big job. Historically, many government agencies have run their own platforms and processes because there hasn't been political or economic pressure to cross-check databases to ensure their reliability and accuracy. But we now know how vital real-time data integration can be to our own national security.

Gregory Ness is director of marketing programs for Juniper Networks. His career has included stints at companies in networking, VOIP, security, financial services, telecommunications, and consumer products.

[back to In The News] | top of page