All concepts at a glance: The first guide to the various approaches that helps in selecting an architecture that fits your own requirements. It describes the most popular data architectures, outlines their advantages and disadvantages, and explains how theory and practice differ. Includes numerous diagrams and comparative tables. Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh have recently emerged as viable alternatives to the Modern Data Warehouse, gaining attention from companies. These new architectures have solid advantages, but their professional classification is also marked by misunderstandings and exaggerations. This practical book offers a well-structured and easily understandable introduction to each of these architectural approaches, helping data experts understand their pros and cons. James Serra, Big Data and Data Warehousing Solution Architect at Microsoft, explains common data architecture concepts and also demonstrates how data warehouses have had to evolve to work with data lake functionalities. You will learn what you can achieve with data lakehouses and how to distinguish the hype surrounding data meshes from concrete practice. After reading this book, you will be able to determine the data architecture that is best suited for your purposes.