Snowflake brings its core functionalities to Apache Iceberg tables. This means that organizations should now get the best of both worlds: the flexibility of open data formats and the performance of Snowflake’s platform.
The improved support for Iceberg tables promises to accelerate various aspects of data analysis. Organizations can use the same compute engine that powers Snowflake’s native table format for Iceberg tables as well. The Search Optimization Service and Query Acceleration Service (both soon to be generally available) can be applied to Iceberg tables for improved query performance.
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Data sharing and security
In addition to better performance, Snowflake is bringing its security features to Iceberg tables. This provides intuitive control over open lakehouse environments while simplifying compliance. Snowflake is also extending its data replication and synchronization to Iceberg tables (currently in private preview). This allows companies to quickly restore their data without major interruptions in the event of system failure, cyber attacks, or other calamities.
In addition, Snowflake’s secure data-sharing technology is now also available for Iceberg tables. This allows customers to share and distribute their data as easily as native Snowflake table formats.