If the thought of working with a cloud data platform seems daunting, it doesn’t have to be. Many of the common tasks that you perform as part of traditional on-premises solutions extend to the cloud—and then some! Through Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence Suite, a set of services based in the Azure Cloud, you can take advantage of the latest enterprise data technologies with minimal startup time.
For example, how do you move data into the cloud, and what can you do with it once it is available there? Microsoft’s answer for data orchestration is Azure Data Factory. Data Factory allows you to move data into Azure as well as helps facilitate analysis and transformation of your data with other Azure services.
As with a musical orchestra, which the term data orchestration might evoke, there are many sections like percussion and woodwinds that need to work well together to make extraordinary music. Different instruments have their own parts just as different Azure services have their own functions. Each instrument, however, relies upon the conductor to help manage tempo and volume to make the collective score sound good. Data Factory acts as an orchestra conductor, rather than a one-man band. It does not do all of the work itself, but it helps different instruments in the Cortana Intelligence Suite collaborate together to help make your solution a good one.
With this analogy, we are only scratching the surface of what the Cortana Intelligence Suite is capable of. Data Factory is just one of the tools that you can utilize among many others that are available.
If you would like to know more about how Azure Data Factory fits into the Cortana Intelligence Suite, 3Cloud is partnering with Microsoft to offer free, hands-on workshops across the US. In the workshop, you will learn about the various components that make up Cortana Intelligence and how they may fit into your solution architecture. You will also discover how to create an end-to-end solution utilizing data orchestration, machine learning, data visualization, web apps, and more!
