It’s that time of year when amid the mild panic of making your annual numbers you start to think ahead – what will be big next year?
A lot has been written about Big Data. To many it’s just a belief that data is growing exponentially as we send more emails, save more files, use more messages, especially with the Internet or the Cloud so close to our fingertips. Figures show that in every minute, data grows at an extraordinary rate on the internet as we save photos, send tweets, post messages on our Facebook Walls, send flowers to a friend, buy Christmas presents for the family, let alone all that growing Corporate data.
But it’s much more than just the data. Much of the orderly data stored in databases, CRM or ERP systems can be managed relatively efficiently. The problem is what’s known as ‘unstructured data’. All those emails, messages, photos, music and other stuff we just amass is growing like topsy but isn’t stored either efficiently or in a way that can be easily accessed, analysed or manipulated – how do we unlock that data’s real value? Whether this is out on the Internet or within a Corporation, storing, understanding and unlocking value from unstructured data is the next Big Thing and this is at the heart of Big Data and the Cloud.
You see, if it was just about adding storage then storage companies would not be having a tough old time this year. They would be riding a wave into 2013 and beyond which would be looking at record profit growth – but they aren’t. Several will be flat if they’re lucky.
Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, a company called Cloudera has just received further funding of $65m and is looking at a partner program. Hortonworks are just looking to set up in Europe. These are part of a new wave of companies based around Apache Hadoop, the open source framework for addressing data-intensive applications in the Cloud. Be assured these companies are very much part of our future.
In many respects, this was on the mind of Leo Apotheker when he paid all that money for Autonomy – the ability to handle and use unstructured data in massive applications. HP still sits on a diamond of a product and if only it would use some common sense and get some decent beanies in when parting with cash, they might still be the best company in the world in Corporate IT and the Cloud.
That’s as maybe. 2013 will be the year when companies start to get what Big Data is all about. It has little to do with the hardware and a lot to do with the applications and the data they hold, the accessibility of data, the ability to analyse and use the data, the ability to make sense of the data, the ability to make meaningful decisions based on data and the speed at which we can do all this.
It will mean more hardware sales but 2013 will be the year when ultra fast Flash becomes important to accelerate applications. Companies like Violin Memory, Whiptail, XIO, Fusion-IO and others will become very important.
Azlan is very much at the forefront of this wave of Big Data. With market leading technology from HP, Cisco, IBM Software, Brocade and Violin Memory Azlan is looking to 2013 as the year when Big Data got on everyone’s agenda. Look out for Azlan’s series of reseller education programs in 2013 led by TD Cloud, Azlan’s program for resellers transitioning to Cloud selling.
2013 will be the year of Big Data.
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