May 7, 2024 | Posted by: Dave Mariani

Third Annual Semantic Layer Summit Highlights: A Leap Forward in Data Analytics

Blog / AtScale Technology, Semantic Layer

On April 24, 2024, AtScale hosted the third annual Semantic Layer Summit, which gathered prominent leaders from the data and analytics industry. The event marked a significant year for semantic layer platforms, which were recognized increasingly as crucial to the modern data stack. We welcomed 20+ speakers from companies like Cardinal Health, Databricks, data.world, John Deere, Google, Netflix, Saks, and Snowflake. In case you missed it, all the sessions are available on demand.

Next Generation Platform

The past year has been notable for semantic layers.

  1. Gartner added semantic layer platforms to their Hype Cycle report, a precursor to creating a Magic Quadrant for the semantic layer category.
  2. GigaOM published its first-ever Sonar Radar report for Semantic Layer Platforms.
  3. A fantastic study from data.world showed how semantic layers can improve LLM accuracy by over 60%.
  4. Microsoft introduced Microsoft Fabric and made the semantic model the centerpiece of their analytics platform.

After founding AtScale more than ten years ago with the goal of making everyone data-driven with a semantic layer, we’ve finally seen the rest of the industry recognize semantic layers as a critical component of the modern data stack. While the rest of the data industry has been catching on to the value of semantic layers, we’ve been working hard to innovate and improve our current platform.

At the 2024 Semantic Layer Summit, we announced our most significant semantic layer technology stack innovations, which empower business teams, analytics engineers, and data scientists to collaboratively create analytics products. This blog will cover the three pillars of our recent semantic innovations—flexibility, collaboration, and community.

Flexibility

In order to be effective with wide adoption, a semantic layer platform needs to address a variety of businesses, large and small, support a wide range of BI and analytics tools, talk to several data platforms, and work on the major cloud platforms. At the Semantic Layer Summit, we announced an innovative, adaptable container-based deployment architecture with flexible pricing options.

Container Based Deployment

We unveiled an adaptable container-based deployment architecture that integrates seamlessly with major cloud environments like Snowflake, Databricks, and Google Cloud. This deployment method leverages Kubernetes and Docker, enhancing scalability, elasticity, resilience, and automation.

Flexible Pricing

With container-based development, we have also introduced consumption-based pricing. The platform provides the flexibility needed to scale resources efficiently, manage costs effectively, and adapt to changing market demands, offering a solution that fits each organization’s unique needs.

Collaboration

Collaboration is vital for success because a semantic layer must help businesses collectively share and understand their data. This means that the semantic layer must facilitate seamless interactions with data and foster a mutual understanding among teams, departments, and even between different organizations.

Code / No Code

Our platform now supports both technical and non-technical users through a unified approach that blends code and no-code experiences. Users can engage with data through a visual canvas or use markup languages and automation scripts, with Git as the backbone for governance and a unified version of truth.

Analytics engineers and other code-first data modelers have the flexibility of a markup language and automation scripts to build and maintain sophisticated data products. Meanwhile, BI developers and data analysts can utilize a visual canvas, employing drag-and-drop tools to easily construct multi-dimensional data models. With visual and code-based modeling support, AtScale enables collaboration among these personas.

Open APIs

In our new API layer, developers in the data ecosystems can access well-documented, consistent, and user-friendly APIs to build their own data product solutions and semantic layer integrations.

The AtScale platform now supports metadata Open API with other tooling in the data and analytics ecosystem through open-source packaging for Keycloak, OpenTelemetry, OpenAPI, and KeyGen. It also provides additional support for BI tooling and open protocols. At the Semantic Layer Summit, we also announced two new integrations with Alation and Collibra.

Semantic Object Sharing

“Analytics as code” is a transformative and crucial strategy that enhances the development process. The integration of a semantic layer underpins this shift, not replacing visual tools but complementing them, merging the precision of code-based development with the user-friendly nature of visual interfaces.

To support this dual approach, we’ve introduced a new semantic modeling Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that accommodates both no-code and code-first data modeling within a unified user experience. AtScale’s YAML-based modeling language, compatible with any development IDE, also facilitates comprehensive CI/CD integration with Git, ensuring a consistent source of truth across the development process.

Community

Community is not just about conferences, swag, or forums. A working community is a shared learning, innovation, and growth space. Here at AtScale, we are deeply committed to democratizing analytics consumption within organizations and revolutionizing the creation of semantic models. We recognize that a rich semantic model and its related analytics are not the work of one person but of teams—who may be distributed and working in different geographies and time zones and using different tools and platforms.

dbt Metrics Translator

By embracing and integrating various semantic languages like dbt, PBI, or Looker, we ensure inclusivity, allowing diverse professionals to contribute and interpret data seamlessly. We made the strategic move to seamlessly integrate with dbt by including its SML translator for dbt. This enhancement enables dbt semantic models to work with AtScale’s first-class, live query support for consumption tools, including Tableau, Power BI, and Excel.

Our support for a wide range of semantic languages, like dbt, PBI, and Looker, is not just a convenience: it ensures that professionals from all fields of data analytics can find common ground within our platform.

Developer Community Edition

In the spirit of community, we are excited to announce the launch of the public preview of the AtScale Developer Community Edition. This version of AtScale is now available as a free download and aims to energize and expand the community-based creation of semantic models.

We aim to encourage active collaboration and welcome contributions from the data community. This edition packs the full functionality of AtScale, integrating our latest advancements, including DBT integration and robust BI tool compatibility, all underpinned by our powerful SML capabilities.

We can’t wait to see how our community will use these new capabilities to drive innovation and create value. Join us now and start transforming the way you work with data!

Conclusion

For a semantic layer platform to be effective, it has to do it all. A consistent application of our methodology and data philosophy across the product – not just paying attention to one audience or one technology – guides us going forward.

For more information about AtScale’s relaunched platform and its innovative features, please watch the keynote presentation from today’s Semantic Layer Summit here.

Read more about AtScale’s new product innovations in these recent articles:

How Does Power BI / Direct Lake Perform & Scale on Microsoft Fabric
Benchmark Report 2024 - Cover