IDM creates middleware tools to help data and application architects query and join data from multiple sources on the fly.
IDM's DFS provides a virtualized, federated approach for businesses that need a rapid solution, don't have large budgets for infrastructure and resources, and need to minimize deployment risk.
IDM's Data Federation Server (DFS)
Making the case
"The most common approach for integrating heterogeneous data into a single, unified BI view is enterprise data warehousing (EDW), which has constraints that often limit its applicability in highly decentralized and agile environments.
When users simply need unified, near-real-time, on-demand access to data that originates in many source applications, data federation is an attractive alternative. Information and knowledge management (I&KM) professionals should also consider data federation a complementary approach that can extend and enrich their current EDW environment."
- James Kobielus, Forrester Research
"The potential of data federation/virtualization technology is compelling. In theory, this technology can create an abstraction layer for all applications and data, thereby achieving flexibility for change, pervasive and consistent data access and greatly reduced costs, because there is less need to create physically integrated data structures.
The end result is greater agility from, and freer access to, an organization's data assets. Among other benefits, this style of technology offers an opportunity for organizations to change and optimize the manner in which data is physically persisted, while not impacting the applications and business processes above."
Ted Friedman, Gartner