Introduction
Before knowing the difference between Data virtualization and Data federation, we have to understand what Data virtualization and Data federation is?
Data virtualization
Data virtualization is a logical data layer that integrates enterprise data scattered across various systems, manages the unified data for centralized security and governance, and provides it in real-time to business users.
Data federation
Data federation is a technique of collecting, storing and using data that uses virtualization instead of a dedicated database. Data federation, also known as data virtualization, is a method to keep pace with data while still converting it into useful intelligence.
Data Virtualization vs Data Federation
Data virtualization and Data federation are often used interchangeably, which is an error. A type of data virtualization is data federation.
Both data virtualization and data federation are data integration techniques designed to make data easier to access for front-end applications. The difference is that Data federation is a term that refers to techniques that are similar to virtual databases with strict data models. Data virtualization is a concept that refers to services that don't enforce a data model and instead rely on applications to understand the information. This is appropriate for modern applications that aren't as concerned about precision data types like text length.