I was recently invited to write a blog for the Microsoft Tech Community detailing why an organization would use Skytap on Azure and Azure native analytics services to modernize legacy data. In that blog, I highlight some of the many business reasons compelling organizations to modernize their data. I also discuss the critical role legacy data plays in maximizing such efforts.
Skytap understands that enterprises rely on data more now than ever to make business decisions, guide innovation, improve customer experience, improve operational efficiency, and create competitive advantage. There’s no question about the vital role data modernization plays in achieving key business outcomes, for example, did you realize that as much as 80% of a given company’s data resides in legacy systems? This data is often siloed, probably has been for years, and on top of that, it likely resides in systems that simply lack modern analytics capabilities or a means to drive actionable insights natively.
Skytap on Azure offers a quick and easy way to transform these disparate legacy data silos by pairing them with Azure native analytics services. Specifically, you can connect legacy workloads migrated to Skytap on Azure to Azure Synapse to ingest your data into a cloud-native data analytics solution. Azure Synapse lets you copy data without writing code or building pipelines from scratch. And if you are using an IaaS to run power LPARs, as well as traditional x86 (non-power) workloads in the same environment such as Skytap on Azure, where IBM i (AS/400), AIX, Linux Power-based operation systems or traditional x86 workloads can exist without re-writing, re-architecting or re-platforming, then you can easily and quickly unlock data insights for these previously isolated legacy data silos with low data latency.
I recommend that you check out the video below where Skytap Cloud Solution Architect Sarah Allen shows how the Azure Synapse pipeline and data flow capability work in real-time and then develops a Power BI report/dashboard with the legacy data that was transformed into an Azure Data Lake. She also shows how you can use Microsoft Purview to create a holistic, up-to-date map of your data landscape with automated data discovery, sensitive data classification, and end-to-end data lineage.
When used together, Azure Synapse and Skytap on Azure hosted IBM i (AS/400) workloads unlock possibilities to better serve business users with actionable data insights that were not possible when you had disparate, siloed data sources.
For a high-level overview of this integration, check out the Skytap on Azure Data Modernization Solution Brief. For a deeper technical dive, check out my previous blog on how the Azure Synapse and DB connector service works under the hood, or take a real deep dive by checking out the technical white paper that we collaborated with Microsoft on where we Unlock IBM Data Insights with Skytap on Azure + Azure Synapse Analytics. As you can see, Skytap is passionate about this solution, because we see how it brings value to our customers.
