TheCUBE co-hosts are broadcasting live from Oracle OpenWorld 2013, where they tracked down the key people in the business in order to filter the hype from the facts. Yesterday Jeff Kelly and John Furrier interviewed Lawrence Schwartz, VP of Marketing with Attunity, talking primarily about Big Data, the belle du jour of tech (full video below).

“One of the things we hear a lot about with Big Data is ‘how you move it around?’ And that’s exactly how we help people with,” said Schwartz.

The company motto is moving “any (type of) data, anytime, anywhere” and they deal a lot with customers who say their data is expanding, coming now from sources all over the world. Attunity is a well-loved tool for reporting, and their newest software release is supporting more and more data sources. Using Attunity’s software solutions, customers enable real-time access and availability of data and files where and when needed, across the maze of heterogeneous systems in today’s IT environment.

Solving many [types of] problems with Big Data

More and more customers have problems involving industrial internet, requiring solutions that address that particular aspect of their business. Schwartz mentioned a customer in Scandinavia who gathers data from ships and drilling platforms, 24-7, acknowledging that there is now a wealth of information, and collecting it can be at times a real problem. But Schwartz thinks that maritime company represents the perfect example of the types of issues Attunity’s solutions are used to solve.

Furrier then asked Schwartz’s thoughts regarding what had gone right (and wrong) with the cloud around the Big Data evolution. “Most of them went right,” said Lawrence Schwartz, and the credit goes to the likes of Amazon, who built up trust and credibility in the cloud. While they focused on making the systems more secure, Attunity focused on getting there faster.

“What is Oracle doing right and wrong?” asked Furrier. In Schwartz’s opinion, “they can do things that other players can’t. They’ve got the experience of working on-premise, with large data stores and how that carries out to the cloud. We learn from that experience too,” admitted Schwartz.

We have the data…now what?

John Furrier asked Schwartz to name one difficult thing about the cloud that might elude the crowd. After trying a solution, the scale-up can prove a real problem. Then, equally difficult, is managing all the data sources. Schwartz gave a great example of a domain selling company, who estimated the whole process of moving their databases into the cloud to take around three months and would be fairly costly, requiring the hiring of a whole army of DBA specialists. Attunity helps customers simplify that process, making it more automated, as close to click-and-go as possible. The challenge is dealing with all the legacy content and making the transition that much easier.

When talking about Data integration, the market has some big players already: Oracle, IBM, Informatica. “How does Attunity differentiate?” asked Kelly. There are a couple of key things, and simplifying the move is one of them. Automation (and the scripting involved) can take a lot of resources and a lot of time. “Automation can take months of effort,” warns Schwartz.

Attunity focuses on an easy to use GUI that requires little to no training, and no specialized DBA. “The other aspect is pure performance,” boasts Schwartz, “optimizing to get the best connection to each player.”

• Smaller footprint, bigger performance

Asked about Attunity competing with the giants in the industry, Schwartz said their strategy is quite simple. The trial is their opportunity for the proof of concept, their chance to show themselves off and get on the radar. They are interested in sending the messages in the right area from the start, that’s why they focus around data movement instead of advertising as a jack of all trades.