Data fabric, data lakehouse, and data mesh have recently appeared as viable alternatives to the modern data warehouse. These new architectures have solid benefits, but they're also surrounded by a lot of hyperbole and confusion. This practical book provides a guided tour of each architecture to help data professionals understand its pros and cons. In the process, James Serra, big data and data warehousing solution architect at Microsoft, examines common data architecture concepts, including how data warehouses have had to evolve to work with data lake features. You'll learn what data lakehouses can help you achieve, and how to distinguish data mesh hype from reality. Best of all, you'll be able to determine the most appropriate data architecture for your needs. By reading this book, you'll:Gain a working understanding of several data architecturesKnow the pros and cons of each approachDistinguish data architecture theory from the realityLearn to pick the best architecture for your use caseUnderstand the differences between data warehouses and data lakesLearn common data architecture concepts to help you build better solutionsAlleviate confusion by clearly defining each data architectureKnow what architectures to use for each cloud provider