Since we live in the tech world and since we spend most of our time online, it’s no wonder why it seems like the tech branch is constantly advancing. Some of us still remember those simpler times when you had around 40 GB on your hard drive, and that was more than enough to store everything needed.
Today, everything evolved, and the quality of every single file is much larger, and with that quality, it is natural that these data files consume much more space than they used to. Also, today there is a countless number of data files, and one of the problems that occur with so much data is that we need to store it somewhere, and in the last decade, storing and exploring data on the cloud became one of the top solutions for that.
Just imagine how much space some company or even one regular user needs to have to save all of the data, and now imagine that there is no cloud and we still need to store everything physically. But luckily, today, there are many reputable companies for data and analysis, like Kanda Software, a computer software company specialized in the development of time-sensitive and innovative SaaS (Software as a service). Even more, cloud computing technology is taking its prime, and one of the terms we could often read about is Snowflake computing, which is why we will now further discuss what it is, how it works, and what does it do.
What is cloud computing?
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First of all, let’s talk about what Cloud computing is. It is a new concept, and although it started in 2006, we are witnessing some groundbreaking developments from 2011. It is a field of computing in which hardware resources, software, documents, images, video, information, etc., are delivered to consumers via the Internet.
Unlike the standard concept of storing information, the Cloud presents something completely different, and the whole system is about taking all the data and all of the content from our computers into the Cloud. Specifically, all the applications we use are already there, while we, as users, access them only through a web browser on our computer. All that allows everything to work much smoother, and it is the easiest way to access any info and any data, and the only thing you need is some web browser and internet access.
The Snowflake ODBC driver will allow users to connect their applications with the Snowflake Computing Cloud Data Platform. This connection is made with a secure, state-of-the-art encryption technology and can be configured for password verification and other security measures for added protection when accessing your data.
The term Cloud computing refers to technology that allows us to use data and work with all the information and programs we are used to, but which are no longer stored on your computer but somewhere on the Cloud. That Cloud is mostly the server of a particular company, which deals with the sale or rental of such virtual space, and with knowing that, many companies have already got used to these services because it makes their business easier and faster on day to day basis.
Here are some benefits of its use:
- you can access the information at any time, from anywhere,
- there are no fixed costs for the purchase and maintenance of equipment and software,
- every company can use it, no matter the size
- all it takes is an internet connection
- all the data is centralized
Snowflake computing
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The Snowflake does not avoid the relatively old-fashioned term data storage, but it also adds a new element to the technology by redesigning it for the cloud and offering the flexibility of a large data set platform. The Snowflake positions its offering as an elastic data warehouse.
It is one of the few but also the best cloud data warehouses, which is offering simple solutions without losing any of its features. What makes it so unique is that, unlike all other databases, it separates storage from computing. Storing all of your info in one single place is also something to expect with Snowflake computing, which lowers costs and allows you to compute independently.
The service allows companies to consolidate all of their data and workloads into one repository, which is then available to all of their users, and every single one of them can get easy access to that data. It is designed to manage the administrative tasks of many of its users. One of those tasks, like automatically adapting to company requirements and handling hardware procurement, so administrators don’t have to spend as much time managing all that, is just one example of how everything is more manageable. In addition, the Snowflake service can take both structured and semi-structured data, without users having to ensure that everything is in one format before sending it to storage. The data warehouse is also automatically optimized based on its usage.
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It is instantly syncing all the info inserted across multiple zones, but that’s not all, as the previous versions are stored and saved for a certain period, previously determined by the user. And when users want to retrieve some data, they don’t need to mount the previous version or its copy, and they only need to use their own SQL syntax – SELECT AS OF – to access earlier versions. Some of the other commands, like “clone” or “undelete,” allow users to recreate or restore earlier versions of some data.
The bottom line
With everything mentioned above, it’s really no wonder why cloud data warehouses are taking over the world and why even more companies are turning to it. Although many experts’ doubted that it could be prosperous, and their opinion was that this system is way more complex and way too expensive to be successful, Snowflake computing has proven them wrong. And today, not only that it is much easier and faster, but it is also affordable for smaller companies. We are yet to see new developments in this field, but it is pretty clear that even though this concept is still new, storing data on the cloud will become something that we couldn’t imagine our life without, and speaking about data warehouses, they will never be the same. This cloud-based warehouse offers so much in terms of expansion, and since it is pretty easy to use, a company organization can only profit from it.
