Fivetran, a cloud-based, fully-managed data integration service, is launching Fivetran Business Critical (FBC), a set of new security-related features for enterprises who have until now felt the need to avoid the public cloud.
Fivetran’s Vice President of Product, Fraser Harris, told InApps Technology that sensitive data security is one of their customers’ biggest concerns when using cloud platforms. With FBC, the company is aiming to address that concern. Harris said FBC “is offering enterprises the highest level of protection for their sensitive data. It enables them to create a more secure, modern data stack that meets internal and regulatory requirements.
Prior to now, using a cloud service like Fivetran, you couldn’t achieve the kind of security levels that certain organizations required.”
Drilldown
Let’s unpack that a little. Cloud-based data platforms, of course, have increased in popularity, due to their elasticity and ability to handle large amounts of data. However, the security of sensitive data in the cloud and various compliance requirements have been disincentives to cloud adoption for customers in certain heavily-regulated sectors, like finance and healthcare. It’s that very issue that Fivetran is seeking to tackle with FBC.
The FBC tier will initially be available on Amazon Web Services‘ (AWS), with Microsoft Azure soon to follow, according to the company. FBC’s chief is its ability to integrate with AWS’ PrivateLink private cloud interconnect service. Data warehouse platforms that run on the AWS cloud, like Snowflake and Amazon’s own Redshift, are PrivateLink-compatible as well, allowing Fivetran pipelines to process on-premises data, pushing the pipelines’ output into the warehouse, all while keeping the data off the public internet.
In addition, customers are able to manage their own encryption keys, using AWS Key Management Service (KMS). Since Fivetran offers single-tenant processes, every data pipeline runs in isolation, both in terms of encryption and processing, keeping data secure. As a result, Fivetran says it can now guarantee its platform’s compliance with data protection regulations, like GDPR and CCPA; and industry certifications like HIPAA and PCI DSS Level 1 validation. Fivetran says it’s the only the only ELT Software as a Service (SaaS) product that so complies.
Why It’s Important
With Fivetran Business Critical, sectors that need to comply with strict security standards can now get on-premises/private cloud security benefits while using a scalable cloud environment and taking advantage of its often superior infrastructure management capabilities. Additionally, because data doesn’t get routed over the public internet, users benefit from higher throughput rates for their data integration pipelines. This reduced latency along with the elimination of some data egress charges are two FBC perks, over and above the heightened security and compliance. Enterprises that want to stay in on-prem environments, for reasons of control and security, can retain those capabilities while utilizing Fivetran’s SaaS data pipeline platform.
Disclosure: Post authors Andrew Brust and Esin Alpturk work for Blue Badge Insights, a research, strategy and advisory firm serving data and analytics software companies, solution providers and customers.
