GDIT’s Dave Vennergrund Says Agencies Turn to Data Lakes Amid AI Adoption

General Dynamics Information Technology’s vice president for artificial intelligence and data insights said agencies are using data lakes and data mesh architecture to manage large volumes of data associated with the increased use of AI.

Dave Vennergrund, a 4×24 member, wrote in a blog post that data lakes help agencies store and analyze data and overcome issues associated with siloes. He added that data lakes are more cost-efficient and can enhance data discovery capabilities through collaboration and facilitation of various AI-enabled initiatives.

Meanwhile, Vennergrund said a data mesh architecture allows users to find and access distributed data without the need to move them to a data lake or warehouse. A data mesh reduces data replication, improves governance and enables seamless sharing.

Both solutions ensure that agencies have the flexibility to allocate assets based on data consumption, Vennergrund wrote in the blog post GDIT published.

Other industry experts share similar insights on the effectiveness of data lakes.

In a C4ISRNET opinion piece posted in December, Robert Carey, president of Cloudera’s government solutions business, a past Wash100 awardee and a 4×24 member, shared that data lakes can help AI solutions produce reliable results. Carey said data lakes provide controlled governance, thereby improving data literacy, data-driven operations and data trust.