> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.pinot.apache.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.pinot.apache.org/release-1.2.0/basics/concepts.md).

# Concepts

Explore the fundamental concepts of Apache Pinot™ as a distributed OLAP database.

Apache Pinot™ is a database designed to deliver highly concurrent, ultra-low-latency queries on large datasets through a set of common data model abstractions. Delivering on these goals requires several foundational architectural commitments, including:

* Storing data in columnar form to support high-performance scanning
* Sharding of data to scale both storage and computation
* A distributed architecture designed to scale capacity linearly
* A tabular data model read by SQL queries

To learn about Pinot components, terminology, and gain a conceptual understanding of how data is stored in Pinot, review the following sections:

* [Pinot storage model](/release-1.2.0/basics/concepts/pinot-storage-model.md)
* [Pinot architecture](/release-1.2.0/basics/concepts/architecture.md)
* [Pinot components](/release-1.2.0/basics/concepts/components.md)


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