While you’re not likely to see a cover story on data historians in BusinessWeek, you need to know that the massive volumes of real-time data underpinning Demand-Driven Supply Networks (DDSNs) won’t be handled by your familiar Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) vendors. Data historians will increasingly be taking on the job.
The Bottom Line: Data historians have proven themselves in the demanding continuous process control world and will play a pivotal infrastructure role in the demand-driven enterprise.
What It Means: Process industries like Refineries, Energy Generation Facilities, and Breweries have relied on data historians to capture, analyze, and archive vital data for nearly two decades. A handful of today’s high-end automobiles use historians, in firmware, to amass the data needed for engine performance management. Within a few years’ time, historians will be pervasive.