Data, Analytics & Cloud Glossary

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that is concerned with building intelligent machines that can carry out jobs that are traditionally done by people...

API

Application Programming Interface, or API, is the structured service-based interface between two applications that run on distinct platforms / servers. The interactions...

Business Intelligence (BI)

Business Intelligence (BI) is a general term that refers to a wide range of instruments, programs, and procedures that empower businesses to gather data from both internal...

Big Data

Big Data refers to the enormous volume of information produced at an accelerating rate in the modern, highly digitalized world. Big Data is gathered, stored, and processed by...

Cloud Application

A Cloud Application refers to a web-based program that uses the power of cloud computing and related capabilities for data storage, logic processing, and many other...

Cloud Migration

The term Cloud Migration describes the process of moving on-premises IT infrastructure, such as databases, applications, and other components, to the cloud...

Dashboard

A Dashboard is the kind of graphical user interface that offers quick insights of important performance metrics pertinent to a specific goal or business activity. Dashboards are...

Data Lake

A Data Lake is a platform that acts as a centralized repository for storing all the unstructured and structured data. Data Lakes enable the user to run various analytics...

Database

A database is a collection of data that has been configured so that it can be accessed, maintained, and transformed. The data, which is typically saved on a computer or on a...

ETL

Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) describes the complete process that an organization uses to ingest all of its data—structured and unstructured—and transform it so that it...

Failover

A Failover describes the secondary system in an architecture that automatically gets transferred the load when the primary...

Full Load

A Full Load is the process of loading the entire dataset, or dump, and then entirely replacing it (i.e., deleting the old dataset and replacing it) with the new, updated...

Governance

Governance refers to a well-established set of processes managed by a governing body that monitors and audits all information and data processes. Thanks to these rules that...

Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud is a computing system that combines on-premises equipment with both private and public cloud services. The hybrid cloud strategy is used by businesses to...

In memory

An “In Memory” database refers to the data management system that stores data into the faster, computer memory (like RAM), in contrast to the usage of slower, disk storage...

Incremental Load

An Incremental Load is the process of adding only new or modified records to the data warehouse, in contrast to a full load. Incremental Loads operate very effectively...

Index

An Index in a database is a data structure that speeds up data retrieval operations on a database table at the expense of more writes and storage space to keep the index data...

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is one of the main categories of cloud services that offers users rapid access to computing, storage, and other IT infrastructure in a cloud...

Integration

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of interconnected physical objects that are capable of accessing the internet, having individual identifiers, and capable of data...

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of interconnected physical objects that are capable of accessing the internet, having individual identifiers, and capable of data...

JSON

JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is an open-source file format and data exchange format that embeds text in an efficient way in order to store and send data...

KPI

KPIs or Key Performance Indicators, are tools used to assess organizational success-critical elements. KPIs vary depending on the organization; for example, business KPIs...

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration system used to automate the management, scaling, and deployment of software no matter what the underlying...

Latency

The term "latency" in computer networking refers to the amount of time it takes for a data packet to move between two specified points. One of the end goals in designing...

Machine Learning

Machine Learning defines the usage and creation of a computer system that can learn and adjust without being given explicit instructions, by analyzing data...

Metadata

Metadata is data or information about data. Data search and retrieval are also made easier through the means of metadata. Additionally, metadata aids in monitoring the...

Microservices

The term "Microservices" refers to a software development approach that compartmentalizes application functionalities to enable autonomous deployment...

Multi-tenant

Multi-tenancy software design defines the concept of using a single software instance to serve different user groups. A well known use for the multi-tenancy model are the...

Normalization

The term "Normalization" describes the act of reorganizing a database to improve its data structure and eliminate redundant information or other undesirable irregularities...

On-prem

On-Prem software is a type of application that runs on equipment that is used on-site (owned and located on the same premise as the entity running it...

One version of truth

“One version of truth” defines the business analytics goal of having a distributed synchronized database, or at the very least a single centralized...

Orchestration

Cloud Orchestration is defined as the practice of automating the procedures required to manage connections and operations of workloads on private...

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing paradigm in which a vendor offers the customer the hardware and software tools required to design, deploy, and manage...

Private Cloud

A private cloud is an infrastructure that has been configured for usage by a single company with numerous users. A private cloud may be managed and run by the...

Public Cloud

A public cloud is a type of cloud architecture that is hosted by a cloud services provider and accessible to every person or business willing to use their service. The...

Relational Database

Relational databases have fields and tables that are connected by keys. They are designed to efficiently input information into systems, but they are not designed to...

REST

REpresentational State Transfer (REST) is an architectural model that specifies guidelines for how stateless computing systems should communicate with one another via...

Scaling

Scaling, also known as auto-scaling, is a cloud feature that enables the automatic allocation or de-allocation of resources depending on the fluctuating demand. Small and...

Serverless Computing

In a Serverless computing environment, customers rely on outside suppliers to flexibly distribute machine resources from their own services. Organizations don't have to...

SLA

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) outlines the amount and quality of service you should anticipate from a vendor, the metrics used to assess service...

Software as a Service (Saas)

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a method of software distribution in which providers grant users online access to their data and applications...

SQL

SQL, short for Structured Query Language, refers to the programming language used to handle data stored in relational databases or for stream processing in relational data...

Storage

Storage is the term used to describe the digital space that businesses rent from independent cloud providers. Thanks to cloud storage, organizations don't have to buy or...

Stored Procedure

A stored procedure is a feature of relational databases that is used to bundle together query statements and run them together as needed. A stored procedure enables the user...

Stream Processing

A modern data processing paradigm known as "stream processing" refers to the process of computing on data as it is created or received. Even though the bulk of data is...

Text Analytics

The term text analytics defines the automated process of converting significant amounts of unstructured text into quantitative data by finding insights, trends, and patterns...

Trend Analytics

Trend analytics is the result of gathering data in an effort to identify recurring patterns, which constitute trends. Trend analysis is a technique that can provide a...

Unstructured Data

The term Unstructured Data refers to datasets, which are often enormous collections of files that are not stored in a formalized database manner. Despite not being prescribed...

View

A View is the temporary output of a query that has been run on data, which database users may access just like they would in a permanent database connection object. In...

Virtual Machine

A Virtual Machine is the virtualization or emulation of a computer system in computing. The functionality of a real computer is provided by virtual machines, which are built...

VPN

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) allows users to transmit and receive data through shared or public networks as though their equipment were directly linked to the private...

Web Analytics

Web Analytics is the study of information based on users' interaction with a particular website. The usual use of Web Analytics is for improving the user experience and more...

XML

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a set of codes, or tags, used to define the text in a digital document. XML defines a set of rules for creating machine and human-readable...