Applications and Analytics Merge

Applications are the main point of entry for data streaming into the enterprise. They are the initial collection point and are responsible for the interactions discussed above. Application interaction has the same characteristics as described for fast data—ingest events, interact with data for decisions, and use real time analytics to enhance the experience.

The application is increasingly becoming both the organization’s and the consumer’s “interface” to the data. However, this model is different from the historical way in which applications were developed. Before the dawn of the data-driven world, applications were written with an operational in-memory database to manage data interaction.

Throughput requirements were low, and developers rarely worried about how analytics would be performed. Streaming analytics was a secondary process. At some point after the application processed the data, it would be moved from the operational system into an analytics system, and someone other than the application developer would run and manage those analytics.

But application developers now realize applications must interact in real time with fast streams of data and use the analytics derived to make valuable interactions. The stresses this places on the fast data architecture necessitates new approaches that can meet these needs.