Implementing Data Mesh

Chapter 10. Creating a Data Mesh Marketplace

As Data Mesh matures in enterprises, we see data products grow from proofs of concept and MVPs into a flourishing ecosystem of interacting data products. But with this success, enterprises face another set of challenges. Although the proliferation of data products is a sign of a healthy, vibrant Data Mesh ecosystem, it also brings the problem of finding data products in this growing ecosystem. Perhaps this is obvious, but without effective ways to find data products, the benefits of Data Mesh cannot be fully realized.

In this chapter, we discuss the challenges with traditional data catalogs and then illustrate how Data Mesh offers new opportunities in what we call a Data Mesh Marketplace. We will explain how the Data Mesh Marketplace is a window into your Data Mesh that makes data products (and the data within them) easy to find, consume, and share.

Challenges with Traditional Data Catalogs

We find that as organizations try to make data discoverable, they fall back on older practices, which is all fine and good except when the older practices are flawed and when there are obvious opportunities to change. So not surprisingly, we see “traditional” data catalogs being considered to maintain and manage data products, as shown in Figure 10-1. (To be clear, the use of the term traditional is not meant in a pejorative manner. Rather, these catalogs serve an especially important role for data governance and even data engineering in non–Data ...