In the current state of the economy, the phrase “time is money” has taken on an even more powerful meaning to the enterprise world. SQLstream’s new 2.0 technology allows companies to reduce the time required to turn data into readable information by capturing and reading the data in live streams (using SQL language) versus batch-techniques of data processing, which is reading and interpreting in chunks after it hits databases.

Real-time analytics of data can be useful to enterprises and their consumer bases in a variety of ways. One example of where SQLStream’s technology could save businesses money and time is in cases of fraudulent purchases on credit or debit cards. If a bank receives real-time data indicating the fraudulent use of a consumer’s account, the bank can stop use of the account immediately (perhaps preventing additional fraudulent charges that the bank will have to incur the cost of), instead of having the data processed overnight and then taking action. In another example, an advertiser could see real-time clickstream data and possibly change advertisements based on popularity on certain websites. SQLstream’s software even is able to filter real time Twitter tweets (but according to SQLstream, Twitter currently only makes 20 tweets per minute public to vendors, accounting for roughly one to two percent of overall tweets).

For enterprises, the ability to be flexible in a dynamic and ever-changing business intelligence environment is an advantage. SQLstream, whose SaaS software is built on an open-source and open standard platform, hopes the use of standard and common SQL language in its software will help businesses and IT companies leverage its existing IT talent familiar with SQL.

But real-time data integration may have its drawbacks. Data quality produced in streams can be poor. With the batch integration techniques, there is time to cleanse and correct data before it is finally read and processed. And while immediate data streaming may be useful for some enterprises, not all businesses need real-time data integration or will be able to manage the constant stream of data.

Regardless of the disadvantages, big companies such as IBM and Oracle and small start-ups such as SQLstream are seeing the definite potential for real-time data integration technologies in the enterprise space.