The Analytics Engineering Podcast The history and future of the data ecosystem (w/ Lonne Jaffe)
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Jun 8, 2025 Lonne Jaffe, Managing Director at Insight Partners and former CEO of Syncsort, dives into the evolution of the data ecosystem, from mainframe origins to AI’s transformative role. He discusses the surprising endurance of legacy tech and the challenges in switching to modern systems. The conversation highlights significant investments in deep tech and AI infrastructure, along with the rapid adoption of AI tools in enterprises. Lonne also shares insights on data integration's critical importance in today’s landscape and the future of strategic innovations in data management.
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Syncsort's Legacy and Strategy
- Syncsort began in 1968 focusing on sorting for mainframes with hierarchical databases.
- They acquired companies to modernize data access without rewriting applications, enabling migration to relational databases.
Origins of ETL Tools
- Early ETL tools emerged in the late 80s, with graphical interfaces replacing hand-coded queries.
- The ETL concept integrated multiple steps like bulk loading and transformation for relational databases.
ETL Market Composition
- ETL vendors bundled products including core ETL, change data capture, and application-to-application integration.
- The ETL market was roughly a tenth the size of the database market, reflecting its attach rate.