What is BigLake?
BigLake is Google’s lakehouse platform for unified access to structured and semi-structured data. The service enables BigQuery queries on data in Cloud Storage without data movement. Open table formats like Apache Iceberg provide data warehouse capabilities on data lake data.
Core Features
- Unified Governance: Central access control across all data and query engines
- Open Formats: Native support for Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake and Hudi
- Multi-Engine Access: Query the same data with BigQuery, Spark, Presto or other tools
- Fine-grained Security: Row-level security and column masking on data lake data
- Multi-Cloud: Access data in AWS S3 and Azure Blob Storage via BigQuery Omni
Typical Use Cases
Data Lakehouse Architecture
Combination of data lake flexibility with data warehouse capabilities. Iceberg tables enable ACID transactions, time travel and efficient updates on Parquet data.
Unified Data Governance
One governance framework for all data in the organization. IAM policies are consistently enforced regardless of which tool accesses the data.
Migration from Hadoop
Existing Hive or Spark workloads can be gradually migrated to BigLake. Open formats enable parallel operation during migration.
Benefits
- No data movement required for analytics
- Avoid vendor lock-in through open formats
- Consistent security across all query engines
- Cost-effective through separation of storage and compute
Integration with innFactory
As a Google Cloud Partner, innFactory supports you with BigLake: lakehouse architecture, migration from Hadoop/Hive, Iceberg table design and governance implementation. We help modernize your data platform.
Available Tiers & Options
BigLake
- Unified governance
- Open table formats
- Multi-engine access
- Additional complexity
Typical Use Cases
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
What is BigLake?
BigLake is a lakehouse platform that enables unified access to data in Cloud Storage and other sources. You can query data with BigQuery, Spark or other engines and apply central governance.
Which table formats are supported?
BigLake supports Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake and Apache Hudi. These open formats enable ACID transactions, time travel and schema evolution on data lake data.
How does access control work?
BigLake provides fine-grained access control at row and column level. IAM policies are enforced regardless of query engine, whether using BigQuery, Spark or other tools.
What is the difference from BigQuery?
BigQuery is a data warehouse with its own storage format. BigLake enables BigQuery queries on data in Cloud Storage with open formats. Both can be used together for hybrid architectures.
