Data Mapping Software Aims to Cut Costs

Exeros announced Feb. 27 that a new version of its automated data discovery solution, aimed at cutting the time and cost of finding and organizing business data, is slated for a formal release in March.

DataMapper 3.0 automates the discovery of forgotten business rules and data lineage, hidden sensitive data, and unknown data inconsistencies so business leaders have a comprehensive view of their data, officials at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said.

"If you dont know where the data is, its difficult to protect it," said Alex Gorelik, Exeros CTO and co-founder, in an interview with eWEEK on Feb. 26.

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DataMapper features a comprehensive and intuitive user interface that speeds user productivity and delivers in-depth information "at a glance," a streamlined workflow—DataMapper 3.0 accelerates data discovery and provides faster time to value and results processes embedded into the visual workbench and new algorithms that discover more data transformation types.

It also leverages existing IT infrastructure and computing power with grid computing in a bid to deliver lower total-cost-of-ownership and faster analysis capabilities, company officials said.

James Kobielus, an analyst specializing in data management at the firm Current Analysis, said when it comes to the issue of regulatory compliance, Exeros has distinguished itself from other companies with this release.

"What differentiates Exeros is that it focuses on a particular DQ/DG [data quality/data governance] function—the upfront quality-assessment feature known as data discovery and profiling," he said Feb. 27.

Read more here about Microsofts online mapping interface.

"Another differentiator is that within the data profiling market, Exeros DataMapper 3.0 is geared to assessing/profiling large, dispersed data sets that have complex interdependencies, rather than profiling individual data sets, tables and records in isolation from related data in other repositories."

Understanding and discovering data can be a time-consuming task for employees armed only with spreadsheets, said Exeros vice president of marketing Todd Goldman. Exeros DataMapper can figure out how different tables of data are related, he said.

The company recently held a contest among 204 human data analysts armed with highlighters and printouts, challenging them to identify data relationships by hand.

The average contestant had an error rate of 27 percent, Goldman said. DataMapper was 21 times faster than the participants on average, he added, and had a 100 percent accuracy rate.

"DataMapper is going to give you the same [business] rules every time," Goldman said.

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