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Choosing between Data Warehouses, Lakes, and Lakehouses

Den Smyrnov talks architecture:

Historically, the two most popular approaches to storing and managing data are Data Warehouse and Data Lake. The choice between them usually depends on business objectives and needs. While Data Lakes are ideal for preserving large volumes of diverse data, warehouses are more favorable for business intelligence and reporting. Sometimes, organizations try to have the best of both worlds and mix Data Lake & Data Warehouse architectures. This, however, can be a time and cost-consuming process.

Against this backdrop, a new hybrid approach—Data Lakehouse—has emerged. It combines features of a Data Lake and a Data Warehouse, allowing companies to store and analyze data in the same repository and eliminating the Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake dilemma. Data Lakehouse mixes the scalability and flexibility of a Data Lake with the ability to extract insights from data easily. Ever so compelling, this approach still has certain limitations. It should not be treated as a “one-size-fits-all” solution.

Read on for an explanation of each of these three styles, including their pros and cons.