Microsoft has unveiled a new, fully managed Azure service that will allow data professionals to securely share big data with external organizations.
Called Azure Data Share, the new service doesn’t demand enterprises to set up any infrastructure. It is a scalable solution that will expand with the growth in demand for big data sharing.
Microsoft said that data can become the most powerful asset for organizations if it can be shared and combined with data that resides with business partners and third-parties. However, data sharing in an easier and governed manner is a challenge for most of the enterprises.
The common data sharing technique like file transfer protocol (FTP) and web APIs require customers to manage infrastructure and don’t offer the expected security and governance. Also, when it comes to sharing large datasets, these techniques aren’t appropriate.
Azure Data Share will address these challenges and meet all the related requirements of enterprises.
It comes with an intuitive interface that makes data sharing easier and productive. With just a few clicks, data pros can share data right from the Azure portal. They will have the capability to select which data to share and who to share it with.
The data can also be scheduled to be shared automatically.
For governance, it allows data pros to govern the use of data by adding terms of use. This way, the recipients will need to agree with the terms of use to receive the data.
Furthermore, the new Azure offering makes use of core Azure security measures for data protection.
Also read: Microsoft enables passwordless access to Azure AD apps and services
Azure Data Share has the capability to make data sharing safe and easy for many industries. For instance, the leading financial services software provider Finastra has fully integrated the new service with their open platform called FusionFabric.cloud. It helps the company to enable the seamless distribution of premium datasets to a wider ecosystem of app developers.
The new Azure service is currently available for preview.
