Increasing data volume is creating new challenges in integration, security, curation, administration, and governance. Business users want real-time trusted data to make accurate business decisions, while technology management wants to simplify administration and lower costs. Closing the big data platform gap is the goal of the emerging collection of technologies that Forrester calls big data fabric. Enterprise architects should look at big data fabric to accelerate their big data initiatives, monetize big data sources, and respond more quickly to business needs and competitive threats.