Data Cross-Currents: 2011 Survey on Cross-Platform Database Administration

The rise of “Big Data”—terabytes and gigabytes of bits and bytes—may be overwhelming many database sites, but not simply due to sheer volume.With the proliferation of information, many new types and brands of databases are also springing up across organizations, creating new headaches for the data professionals who then must step in and properly manage these solutions.

As a result, there are many data sites now being informally administered by “accidental database administrators”—managers and professionals from other parts of the business with no formal DBA training. A new survey of data and IT managers finds that companies are only beginning to grasp the complexities that are arising with this proliferation of databases. The survey gathered input from 289 qualifying data managers who are subscribers to Database Trends and Applications, and was conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc., in partnership with Quest Software in March and April of 2011.