What Is Data-in-Motion?

Data-in-motion, or data in motion, is a term that refers to digital data sets that are currently being moved over a network from one location to another. This contrasts with data-at-rest, which pertains to data that is not being moved and resides in a long-term storage technology like a database or a file system. Most data used in enterprises today are considered data-at-rest, but there is a growing trend towards taking advantage of data-in-motion.

Why Use Data-in-Motion?

Data-in-motion is used when immediate action is desired on data that represents actionable insights. Since data-in-motion typically involves real-time data that has very recently been created, such as transaction data or automated measurements in industrial equipment, leveraging that data often offers a real-time advantage.

Examples of Data-in-Motion

Some examples of data in motion include:

• Internet of things measurement data, from sources such as:
  • Smart meters
  • Connected cars
  • Airplanes
  • Industrial equipment such as tractors, oil rigs, or wind turbines
  • Manufacturing assembly line sensors
  • Wearable devices
• Point-of-sale transactional data
• Change data capture streams from database transaction logs
• System monitoring data
• Mobile application data
• Online game tracking data
• Event-based data sent to/from enterprise messaging buses