ABSTRACT: Experts say that the emerging data slab architecture is far better than a data mesh for organizations that want to build strong analytics foundation.

April 1, 2022 - Data and analytics are moving too fast for decision-makers to keep up; it’s time for data teams to consider the pros of slowing down.

“If you’re going to deploy a strong stable foundation upon which to build analytics applications, a data slab is far better than a data mesh,” says Ino Alot, a data architect expert from Alaska. “Mesh can be flimsy for industries that are used to concrete legacy systems. Executives are rightfully concerned about data slipping through the gaps.”

In a slab set up, data is crushed together to form a solid platform, making slab solutions convenient for those looking to reduce the volume of their data or who are concerned about storage capacity. No need to worry about row versus columnar processing anymore, either, since the slab efficiently compresses data into a single, dense unit. Once an organization’s data is compressed into a slab, its analytics applications will run slowly enough for the executive team to keep pace with the insights being hewn from the slab.

If a data slab sounds like the right solution for you, current leading slab providers are data.rock, Grannitte, and MarbleOps. Pioneer provider Slab.io is rolling out a new product, Pumice Slab, a more buoyant slab solution that offers slightly faster processing for those organizations with data-savvy decision-makers.

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