A service mesh is a software infrastructure that enables communication between microservices in an application. Its purpose is to manage how different parts of the application integrate with one another, which helps to avoid monolithic application architecture. By breaking down the application into a collection of services, each service can be developed, maintained, and improved independently of the others.

Service meshes have changed the way that we deliver software. However, when we look at the evolution in data access, it has not undergone the same level of evolution.

Today’s applications are moving to the cloud. However, these cloud applications often rely on data that is not moving to the cloud. The data set may be too large…it may be changing frequently on-premise…it may be streaming in real-time from devices…or it may be owned and controlled by another organization. Regardless of the reason, when this data cannot migrate with the application that depends on it, connectivity challenges occur.

Whether building virtual data catalogs for analytics, AI applications or serving up data for a multi-tenant cloud application, the challenge remains the same….software providers must securely connect to this data no matter where it resides.

Whether they are familiar with the term or not, a data mesh is needed.

So What is a Data Mesh?

Functioning similar to a service mesh, a data mesh creates a layer of connectivity that abstracts away the complexities of connecting, managing and supporting access to data. At its core, It is used to stitch together data held across multiple data silos. The premise of a data mesh is that it is used to connect distributed data across different locations and organizations.

A data mesh ensures that data is highly available, easily discoverable, secure, and interoperable with the applications that need access to it.

Data meshes are used in a variety of circumstances:

• Connecting cloud applications to sensitive data that lives in a customer’s on-premise or cloud environment
• Creating virtual data catalogs from a variety of data sources that can’t be centralized
• Creating virtual data warehouses or data lakes for analytics and machine learning training without consolidating data into a single repository
• Giving application developers and DevOps teams ways to query data from a variety of data stores without having to think about ‘how’ they are accessing that data

What is Trustgrid’s Data Mesh Platform?

Trustgrid’s Data Mesh Platform uniquely addresses the complexities of connecting cloud applications to on-premise and multi-cloud data, and allows users to build a seamless data mesh.

To do this, we combine secure software-defined networking, centralized management features, containerized edge application deployment tools, and support automation tools into a single platform designed for applications.

By combining all of these things into a single platform we not only create a seamless fabric of connectivity but, we allow software providers to focus on delivering software instead of worrying about IT infrastructure. 

While the term data mesh may not be as tenured as others (some say we are networking, while others say we are edge computing or container orchestration) it is exactly what our customers are looking for when they have to connect applications to a variety of on-premise environments.

Learn more about the products that make up the Trustgrid connectivity platform