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Snowflake has announced an expansion that will turn its Data Cloud platform into a marketplace for data-intensive business applications.
At Snowflake Summit 2022, the database company launched a preview of a new Native Application Framework, which will allow developers to build apps that run natively in the Data Cloud and can be sold to other members of the ecosystem through Snowflake Marketplace.
Attended at a pre-event pre-briefing by TechRadar ProSnowflake drew parallels between its new marketplace and the mobile app stores of Apple and Google, among others.
Enterprise app store
The move to bring third-party applications to the Snowflake Marketplace has been described by the company as a “major milestone” in building a full-fledged ecosystem for enterprise data applications.
In this new scenario, Snowflake’s value proposition goes beyond the quality of its own services to include the innovation found elsewhere in the company’s 6,300-strong customer network. The change is also likely to bring in a new revenue stream, in the form of a platform fee charged as a percentage of each marketplace sale (TechRadar Pro wait for confirmation at this point).
According to Snowflake, the expansion of the market will benefit customers on both sides of the equation, simultaneously making it easier to develop and monetize apps built for the Data Cloud and an easy way to identify pre-built tools. and take advantage of it.
Separately, the company touted cybersecurity and governance benefits associated with running apps directly from Snowflake instances, and the elimination of the need to move data back and forth to power applications.
So far, companies including Capital One, LiveRamp and Informatica have used the new Native Application Framework to build apps for use cases spanning cloud cost management, identity resolution and data integration.
“Applications have been part of Snowflake’s DNA from day one,” said Chris Child, Senior Director of Product Management at Snowflake. “The Snowflake Native Application Framework empowers every customer to step into the future with a seamless way to build, distribute and use applications natively in the Data Cloud.”
Disclaimer: Our flights and accommodation for Snowflake Summit 2022 were funded by Snowflake, but the organization had no editorial control over the content of this article.
