On 6 June 2023, leading data provider Snowflake has introduced a new offering tailored specifically for the government and education sectors. This industry-specific data cloud is designed to cater to public-sector agencies at various levels, including federal, state, and local, as well as educational institutions. By providing a fully managed package, the offering allows organizations to swiftly adopt the Snowflake data platform, enabling them to consolidate their data assets and develop relevant downstream applications. This launch signifies Snowflake’s seventh industry cloud release, as the company strives to attract more enterprise customers and compete with rivals like Databricks.
Snowflake’s government and education data cloud incorporates three key elements, similar to its previous industry-specific clouds. The first element is Snowflake’s cross-cloud data platform, which allows for the consolidation of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. The second element comprises prebuilt solutions provided by Snowflake and its partners. Lastly, industry-specific datasets are included in the offering.
By adopting the government and education data cloud, users gain access to industry-specific applications powered by Snowflake, including those offered by PowerSchool and Merit. Data providers such as Carto and Vantage Point Consulting, as well as integrations and out-of-the-box solutions from leading data infrastructure providers like AWS, Collibra, and Immuta, are also available.
Furthermore, the package encompasses pre-built solutions from consulting firms like Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, and Plante Moran. These solutions address critical use cases such as decision dominance for federal customers, application modernization for optimal mission outcomes, and providing support for individuals experiencing homelessness.
While the exact number of enterprises utilizing Snowflake’s government and education data cloud was not specified, the list of industry customers includes K-12 schools, higher education institutions, and public-sector organizations such as the state of Montana and the city of Tacoma, Washington. This launch is part of Snowflake’s ongoing efforts to simplify access to its offerings and expand its customer base across various sectors.
It is worth mentioning that Snowflake is not alone in pursuing this strategy. Its competitor, Databricks, has also been introducing industry-specific lakehouses tailored to different verticals. Snowflake initiated this approach in September 2021 with its financial services data cloud, while Databricks followed suit in January 2022 with a lakehouse designed for the retail industry.
Currently, Snowflake boasts a total of seven distinct data clouds, while Databricks offers five industry-specific offerings.
About Snowflake :
Snowflake is a fully managed SaaS platform that offers a comprehensive solution for data warehousing, data lakes, data engineering, data science, and more. It provides features like separation of storage and compute, on-the-fly scalable compute, data sharing, data cloning, and third-party tool support. With these capabilities, Snowflake addresses the complex data management needs of growing enterprises, allowing them to securely handle and analyze their data while enabling seamless collaboration and efficient resource allocation.
