Centralise or Federate - How to Scale your Lakehouse

As organisations modernise their data platforms, one key question always surfaces: How do we scale this to serve the business?

Should you maintain a central Data Lakehouse for consistency and control, or federate it to empower teams and scale with agility?

In this session, I’ll explore the trade-offs between centralised and federated Lakehouse architectures, how to decide what fits your organisation, and why the best solutions often blend both approaches. You’ll learn how governance, data ownership, training, and tooling choices can make or break your strategy. Attendees will walk away with an understanding of the benefits of federation, and a practical roadmap for balancing autonomy with standardisation in a real-world Data Lakehouse.

- Understand what a federated data mesh is - Understand the challenges of federation over centralisation - Understand the benefits of federation