Take a tour
Book demo

What is a data lake?

A data lake is a reservoir that can store vast amounts of raw data in its native format. This data can be

  • Structured data from relational databases (rows and columns),
  • Structured data from NoSQL databases (like MongoDB, Cassandra, etc.),
  • Semi-structured data (CSV, logs, XML, JSON),
  • Unstructured data (emails, documents, PDFs) and
  • Binary data (images, audio, video).

The purpose of a data lake, a capacious and agile platform is to hold all the data of an enterprise at a central platform. By this, we can do comprehensive reporting, visualization, analytics, and eventually glean deep business insights.

How is the working of a data lake different from a data warehouse?

A broad understanding is that a data warehouse is a fully schematized data storage and processing platform whereas a data lake is more fluid in its working as the name suggests. Given below are the few steps which are done differently in a data warehouse versus a data lake:

Decoupling of metadata and data

In a data warehouse, first, you define metadata, and then you add data to it, but in a data lake, first, you ingest data and then define the metadata around it. In this way, you can assign multiple metadata tags to the same data set.

Scalability

A data warehouse can scale up to few terra bytes whereas in a data lake you can store up to few petabytes of data.

Decoupling of storage and processing

In a data lake, we can store data and process it separately. To know more about how this is made possible, read about various technology stacks used in a data lake. Some use cases may require more storage whereas others need more processing power. Accordingly, we can scale any of these two. It can save a lot of money for the company.

Performance

A data warehouse contains small datasets; hence its data processing speed is good. But a data lake holds large datasets which takes a toll on its processing speed.

What you should do now

  1. Schedule a demo to learn more about OvalEdge
  2. Increase your knowledge on everything related to data governance with our free whitepapers, webinars and academy
  3. If you know anyone who'd enjoy this content, share it with them via email, LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

Find your edge now. See how OvalEdge works.

OvalEdge recognized as a leader in data governance solutions

SPARK Matrix™: Data Governance Solution, 2025
Final_2025_SPARK Matrix_Data Governance Solutions_QKS GroupOvalEdge 1
Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) Study commissioned by OvalEdge: ROI of 337%

“Reference customers have repeatedly mentioned the great customer service they receive along with the support for their custom requirements, facilitating time to value. OvalEdge fits well with organizations prioritizing business user empowerment within their data governance strategy.”

Named an Overall Leader in Data Catalogs & Metadata Management

“Reference customers have repeatedly mentioned the great customer service they receive along with the support for their custom requirements, facilitating time to value. OvalEdge fits well with organizations prioritizing business user empowerment within their data governance strategy.”

Recognized as a Niche Player in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Data and Analytics Governance Platforms

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Data and Analytics Governance Platforms, January 2025

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 

GARTNER and MAGIC QUADRANT are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Find your edge now. See how OvalEdge works.