A data fabric is an architecture and set of data services that provide consistent capabilities across a choice of endpoints spanning hybrid multicloud environments. It is an integrated data architecture that is adaptive, flexible, and secure, and is a new strategic approach to enterprise storage operations. A data fabric is built upon a rich set of data management capabilities that ensure consistency across integrated environments, reducing tedious management through automation, speeding up dev/test and deployment, and protecting assets 24x7x365.
According to Gartner, a data fabric is a design concept that serves as an integrated layer (fabric) of data and connecting processes. It utilizes continuous analytics over existing, discoverable, and inferenced metadata assets to support the design, deployment, and utilization of integrated and reusable data across all environments, including hybrid and multi-cloud platforms. Data fabric leverages both human and machine capabilities to access data in place or support its consolidation where appropriate, and continuously identifies and connects data from disparate applications to discover unique, business-relevant relationships between the available data points.
In simplest terms, a data fabric is a single environment consisting of a unified architecture and services or technologies running on that architecture that helps organizations manage their data. It is a centralized data architecture that serves data consumers with integrated, governed, fresh data for analytical and operational workloads. Think of data fabric as a weave that is stretched over a large space that connects multiple locations, types, and sources of data, with methods for accessing that data. The data can be processed, managed, and stored as it moves within the data fabric.
