Queplix Brings Data Portability into the Cloud

What can you do when your company data is locked in legacy applications such as DB2, Sybase, Oracle 10, or other proprietary systems when you want to graduate into the age of cloud computing and SaaS?  According to Mark Cashman, CEO of Queplix, the answer lies in having a tool to discover what data resides in existing systems, classify the data, and make that data available for future applications and reporting.

“We are out to solve the data discovery and integration problem that exists today,” says Cashman.  “Some of the largest companies in the world still have challenges integrating all these legacy systems, and how to populate information they have built over the past 20 or 30 years into SaaS applications residing in public or enterprise clouds so it is good, clean, persistent data.”

Queplix relies on its ability to discover and classify data sets into metadata.  According to Cashman, this process involves many steps, including:

• Determining what data and information is available within existing systems
• Determining the accuracy of existing information
• Performing an object-oriented discovery process
• Combining elements from the various existing systems to identify and establish a single “record of truth”
• Using established data to harmonize or reconcile data elements across an organization

Data Portability

Having roots the CRM industry, Queplix founders are painfully aware of the difficulty reconciling data across different systems, both customer and internal, to allow sharing of data between applications.  Thus the vision of data portability and ability to transfer or transition between different applications is a priority with Queplix.

“We need to get away from the notion of what is the underlying database, or who you have to buy the database from, and look at the inherent value of data” emphasizes Cashman. “As we are at the data layer, we are transparent to applications and database formats.”

Once the metadata is classified and established on a metadata server, Queplix will be able to identify and use data contained within “discovered” systems through use of identifying data sources and locations via the metadata server, rather than requiring extensive searches through large legacy data bases – or use of multiple data base applications.

As that data is now known and identified, moving the data into new structures or locations becomes easy, again focusing on the data itself rather than complex proprietary relations set up within legacy systems.  This is valuable not only for developing SaaS or hosted applications, but also in recovering data sets in different locations or platforms following disasters.

“We’re at the data layer, and that’s how we describe our value – providing data liquidity”

Cashman provides a case study to explain how his product may add value to a government.

Let’s consider a small East European country that fell under the control and management of the former Soviet Union.  After the country democratized, adequate government bureaucracy was not in place to establish a national information technology plan, and subsequently many ministries, agencies, and offices within the government established their own data centers and data formats.

Now, with requirements for data center consolidation, virtualization, and integration of national data across agencies, there is a huge challenge in bringing the systems together into a functional ICT environment.

Cashman describes Queplix’s discovery process as “analogous to Tivoli’s ability to discover network elements.”  Queplix can go in, discover data elements and structure, classify that into metadata, and index what it finds into a metadata server which is transparent across all government platforms.  And will also allow consolidation of data as needed into single virtualized or common data systems.

In addition, each data element can be identified with security tags or classification, allowing the government to better control which data is available for use in reporting and display to individual offices or requesting users.

“Once a company (or organization) is able to identify and address their information, that is the ‘big bang’ for us” stresses Cashman.  “In addition, once companies or organizations have access to and unlock data located in (databases), or information produced by legacy systems our customers can start turning down some of their legacy applications,” taking advantage of more powerful cloud-based or SaaS enterprise and public cloud services.

Not to mention the potential savings of relieving the organization of financial licensing and hardware burdens imposed by continued use of legacy or obsolete applications and systems.

“Our Queplix applications help level the playing field around relational databases.” states Cashman.  “Many large consulting companies are signing multi-year, multi-million dollar contracts doing essentially the same thing we do.  But we are doing it for a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time required to accomplish the same objectives.”

You can learn more about Queplix and their products, services, and vision of creating a platform focused data mobility and bridging applications at:  www.queplix.com

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Pacific-Tier Communications LLC interviewed Mark Cashman, CEO of Queplix on 23 August 2011