Data Virtualization is about building on the techniques for virtualization that have been so successful in easing the management and cost of server infrastructure, and extending those techniques to the virtualization of corporate data.
If you've ever been frustrated over the seemingly simple tasks of provisioning test databases for development projects, or spinning off reporting databases in response to fast-changing business opportunities, then you're going to find much to like in this book. New techniques for data virtualization are built around recognizing that most of what sits in a given database remains static.
To clone a database, one need only clone the small amount of data that is changing, and then to keep track of the ever-changing delta between clone and source. Virtualization helps you respond with swiftness and agility to the flood of ever-changing business requests that currently leave you harried and haggard.
Creating a snapshot for reporting becomes a five-minute task involving a few button-clicks. Does every developer want their own copy of production in their development sandbox? You can give them that, and with almost no expenditure for additional storage. Migrating data into the cloud and back again can be done transparently. Data Virtualization is your introduction to the new world of software making all these things possible by transforming data management into an agile and responsive business asset.
