Steve Jobs is arguably the most amazing innovator of our times.  I recently read some of his thoughts on innovation. His statement "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower," caused me to reflect upon my eight-year association with data virtualization,and consider who in the IT analyst community have been the innovative leaders.

Since 2006, I have worked with over one hundred IT analysts to define and advance the data virtualization market.  I even teamed up with one, Judith Davis, to co-author the first book on data virtualization,Data Virtualization: Going Beyond Traditional Data Integration to Achieve Business Agility.

Others such as Rick van der Lans, author of data virtualization's second book,Data Virtualization for Business Intelligence Systems: Revolutionizing Data Integration for Data Warehouses and the seminal article, The Network is the Database, have contributed mightily to the market's understanding of data virtualization's capabilities, advantages and benefits.

The role call of top analysts doing innovative work continues with Noel Yuhanna of Forrester who wrote the analyst community's first research paper on data virtualization in January 2006,Information Fabric: Enterprise Data Virtualization.

Gartner's Ted Friedman and Mark A. Beyer, and more recently Merv Adrian, Roxane Edjlali, Mei Selvage, Svetlana Sicular and Eric Thoo, have been both descriptive and proscriptive about the use of data virtualization as a data integration delivery method, a data service enabler and a key component in what Gartner calls the Logical Data Warehouse.

Dave Wells, author of TDWI's Data Virtualization Course,Data Virtualization: Solving Complex Data Integration Challenges, helped bring data virtualization into the mainstream.    As did Boulder BI Brain Trust members Claudia Imhoff, Colin White, John O'Brien, Ralph Hughes, John Myers and more who I recently wrote about inRocky Mountains High On Data Virtualization.

Further, there have been myriad analysts who have amazing contributions.

• The learned trio of Dr. Barry Devlin, Dr. Robin Bloor, and Dr. Richard Hackathorn have pushed the art of the possible.
• While analyst / practitioners such as Jill Dyche, Mike Ferguson, Rick Sherman, Steve Dine, Evan Levy, David Loshin and William McKnight, via their hands-on client work, have "kept data virtualization grounded on reality street," to quote Mike Ferguson.
• And let's not forget the Massachusetts' Waynes - Wayne Eckerson formerly of TDWI and Wayne Kernochan, author of the eponymous Thoughts From a Software IT Analyst blog.  Their voices and insights have proven invaluable.

To quote Gene Rodenberry, "It isn't all over; everything has not been invented; the human adventure is just beginning."  The same is true for data virtualization.  So I look forward to more great insights from these innovators, as well as a new generation led by Puni Rajah of Canalys and Vernon Turner of IDC.

To see Rick van der Lans and Barry Devlin on stage and gain even more insights from the 2014 Data Virtualization Leadership Award winners, join us at Data Virtualization Day 2014 on October 1 in New York City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0FGrSpD5pA&index=4&list=PLFT-9JpKjRTDSyR4jbCVS5e94fzzhIzWz

Watch for a sneak peek of Data Virtualization Day 2014.

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