What is a data warehouse? Quite simply, a data warehouse is a database built for the purposes of analysis. “Data warehouses” encompass a huge range of applications today, from large-scale advanced analytical data stores supporting dozens of sophisticated analysts to pre-built business intelligence applications with tens of thousands of users, and from enterprise-wide data warehouses to departmental data marts. Data warehouses are now a mainstay of the IT infrastructure, enabling both long-term strategic planning and agile responses to new market conditions.

However, data warehousing is undergoing a major transition. The benefits of data warehouses are currently being realized in most organizations, partially if not wholly. The best practices for data warehouses are well-established, and the technology supporting data warehouses is becoming more and more mature. Today’s leading-edge organizations, seeking to further differentiate themselves through analytics, are expanding their data warehouses with “big data”