SmartData Fabric® uses a combination of content, link and master data indexes to enable a virtual graph database representation of data with three modes of operation:
- Virtual graph database WITHOUT an ontological/semantic model, using SQL
- Virtual graph database WITH an ontological/semantic model, again, using SQL
- Virtual link analysis using SQL with two proprietary extensions (DOS (degrees-of-separation) and LINK (iterative query function that attempts to find a series of connections between two or more entities, within specified DOS))
Conventional graph visualization and link analysis applications take a top-down approach, starting with the presentation or visualization, relegating data access to conventional federated adapters for ETL (data Extract, Transform and Load) to a centralized database, and from there, to a graph database. WhamTech tackles graph database, link analysis and associated visualization, from the bottom-up, starting with data access, quality and standardization, and Master Data Management (MDM), and then leveraging and combining associated indexes, comprising content, link and master data indexes – see Figure 1. Combinations of these indexes are automatically used by SDF when applications submit relevant queries. For example, a single node on a graph may logically represent multiple records that physically exist in one or more data sources – see Figure 2. The edges from/to that node logically represent one or more relationships that physically exist in one or more data sources – see Figure 3. SDF bridges the gap between logical representative views of data and the physical storage of data in sources. This is the key to SDF – it virtually bridges the gap between what is needed to represent data outside of the normal transactional/operational systems for both enhanced transactional/operational environment, e.g., single customer/employee/patient views, AND the higher-level reporting, BI and analytics environment.
SDF can work with almost any link visualization application and has done so in the past, including open source applications. SDF has middleware that manages both data access and link analysis, using Boolean operations on virtual or physical bitmaps to allow rapid link calculations. WhamTech has a technology alliance with Cambridge Intelligence, makers of highly interactive OEM graph/link visualization called KeyLines®.
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