What is a data lake in relation to PSE Cortex?

A data lake is best described as a storage repository that can hold vast amounts of raw data in its native format until it is needed. This storage approach allows organizations to keep large volumes of unprocessed data from various sources without requiring any upfront organization or schema definitions.

Data lakes are particularly valuable because they enable users to work with a wide variety of data types—structured, semi-structured, and unstructured—providing flexibility to data scientists and analysts who need access to diverse datasets for analysis, machine learning, or other data-centric tasks.

In contrast, other options describe different functionalities or types of data management systems. A type of database for structured data only refers to relational databases, which require predefined schemas and are not conducive to the raw data handling flexibility that data lakes provide. Archiving historical dataset snapshots relates to a form of data storage that is more restrictive and does not encompass the continuous influx and diverse nature of data a data lake utilizes. Finally, while tools for real-time data processing are essential in many data architectures, they typically process data on the fly rather than storing it in a manner that accommodates both current and historical analytics as a data lake does.