Ten years after it was founded, CData Software is continuing to evolve, says Founder and Chief Executive Officer Amit Sharma. “We’re at an inflection point where data connectivity is becoming fundamental infrastructure,” he said, “and I see CData evolving to meet that reality.”
The North Carolina-based company’s mission is “simplifying access to any data, anywhere” – a considerable challenge in the Generative AI era, where Large Language Models are adept at creating generic solutions but can struggle with enterprise data. Sharma is positioning CData at the forefront of the transition from the former to the latter; “rather than seeing AI as something separate from connectivity,” he says, “we view it as validation that making data AI-Ready through seamless access is more important than ever.”
Sharma says his “aha” moment came after he left Infosys Technologies in India to work in America, eventually ending up at /n software, where he innovated alongside his future co-founders. It was there that the lightbulb eventually went on. “The problem wasn’t the complexity of individual systems,” he said, “but the lack of a unified, standards-based approach to data connectivity.”
That single observation led directly to the creation of CData, which differentiates itself from its competitors through what Sharma calls a “unique blend of simplicity, broad data source coverage, and a strong focus on real-time, seamless integration.” Not that it’s a one-size-fits-all operation, or a static one. Far from it, in fact. Sharma and his team are constantly working to establish and maintain the connections that create the basis for innovation.
“The key insight we’ve had is that a mediocre connector to a critical system is often more valuable than a perfect connector to a niche platform,” he says, “but as we build more sophisticated solutions on top of our connectivity layer, the quality bar keeps rising.”
And rising, and rising. No matter who needs it, or how hard the problem. “Our job is to make sure accessing any data source is as simple as writing a SQL query, regardless of what’s built on top of that foundation,” Sharma says.