For some enterprises, data can be a blind spot, a large repository of information with little connection to the goals and objectives of the business.

To address that issue, companies are turning to knowledge graphs that combine artificial intelligence, virtualization and graph to unify disparate data into a meaningful, real-world context. One startup that has built a growing business around the use of enterprise knowledge graph platforms is Stardog Union Inc., which was named to Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies” list last year.

In anticipation of the AWS Startup Showcase: Innovations With Cloud Data — set to kick off on March 24 — SiliconANGLE’s livestreaming studio, theCUBE, spoke with Rob Harris (pictured), vice president of solutions consulting at Stardog, who appeared with theCUBE’s John Furrier in an exclusive interview. (* Disclosure below.)

“There is more value in your data that you don’t even know,” Harris said. “We see the enterprise knowledge graph as a connected set of data with context. It’s not just bringing all the data together, but actually being able to get business value and insights out of it.”

Answering relevant questions

In addition to being a blind spot, data can also be a moving target. New information is constantly added, and the stateful nature of data can frequently change. Stardog’s solution is geared to capture real-time virtualization so the information remains relevant.

“We look at the data where it is, in the applications, the unstructured documents and structured repositories so we can observe as state changes in that data and answer questions that are relevant at the time,” Harris explained. “The ability to add a virtualization layer to the graph enables you to get more of a real-time look at your data.”

A problem for many organizations is that data can often be siloed or old. Stardog deals with this by leveraging compute and storage to reuse data in ways that make sense for a particular business.

“There are many data silos we’ve created inside our organizations that can be reused,” Harris noted. “Drug companies can get new drugs to market faster by looking at older studies they’ve done where maybe the meaning was hidden because it was an old system and nobody knew what particular codes and meanings were in the context of today. Being able to reuse and bring that forward brings a real-life application to people solving business problems.”

Stardog’s knowledge graph technology has attracted a number of major enterprises as clients, including Bayer Corp., Bosch Global, Morgan Stanley and NASA. In essence, the startup is creating a data fabric that offers cross-connection insights across multiple platforms.

“We are trying to create that unified data fabric across on-premises or multiple cloud providers so that any of the nodes in the platform can answer a question from any of the data sources,” Harris said. “Things like a knowledge graph are open and flexible. They adhere to standards, which means you’re not locked into a single vendor. You’re allowed to leverage this technology to grow beyond what you had originally envisioned.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations. (* Disclosure: Stardog Union Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Stardog nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE