Iris Insight Discovery Platform Offers New Approach
February 6, 2013
Is this another data-analysis revolution or just more fancy graphics? Wired reports, “Data-Visualization Firm’s New Software Autonomously Finds Abstract Connections.” Ayasdi asserts that their Iris Insight Discovery platform helps you find answers in your data to questions you didn’t even know to ask.
If you check out the article, start with the embedded video; it does a good job of explaining the product. Writer Liat Clark explains:
“It’s a type of machine learning that uses hundreds of algorithms and topological data analysis to mine huge datasets before presenting the results in a visually accessible way. Using algebraic topology, the system automatically hunts down data points close in nature and maps these out to reveal a network of patterns for a researcher to decipher — any closely related nodes of information will be connected and clustered together, like how a social network arranges its data according to relationship connections.”
By removing the requirement for human-generated queries, the software is unfettered to offer up any patterns and anomalies it detects. Chances are, at least some of those will turn out to be important. The platform is apparently already producing exciting results in the medicine, and DARPA has optimistically bankrolled much of the development, hoping its use of the platform will bolster our national security. Now, a new round of funding is launching the product into the public realm.
When Ayasdi was formed in 2008, it was built on a decade of research at Stanford, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), and the National Science Foundation. The company is now located in Palo Alto, California. Their unique name is Cherokee for “to seek.”
Cynthia Murrell, February 06, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
DataStax Brings Enterprise Security to NoSQL
February 4, 2013
The next generation of the DataStax data management platform will be made available at the end of February. DataStax Enterprise 3.0 attempts to tie the flexibility of NoSQL databases to the security features enterprises have come to expect. Kristen Bent covers all the details for CRN in her story, “DataStax Merges Enterprise Security, NoSQL In Big Data Platform.”
The new platform is described:
“The new platform, dubbed DataStax Enterprise (DSE) 3.0, is targeted at organizations looking to adopt NoSQL databases — a type of next-generation, non-relational database optimized for big data — without sacrificing the robust security features native to more traditional SQL databases, explained Robin Schumacher, vice president of products at DataStax.“
While DataStax Enterprise 3.0 may be the latest in security technology for NoSQL-based solutions, some would still say that it is not quite as secure as more traditional options. Apache Lucene and Solr are the standards in the world of enterprise search, and provide a stable and predictable environment upon which to build. Industry trusted solutions like LucidWorks, which utilize the power of Lucene and Solr, might be a less risky solution for security in the enterprise.
Emily Rae Aldridge, February 4, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
IT Spending Expected to Hit Nearly Four Trillion in 2014
February 1, 2013
Now here’s a crazy number. InfoWorld shares a recent prediction from two prominent research companies in, “Gartner: Big Data Will Help Drive IT Spending to $3.8 Trillion in 2014.” Gartner expects IT spending to reach $3.7 trillion this year.
Despite the headline, big data is just one of many factors to affect these figures. A world beginning to recover from economic uncertainty, says a Gartner VP, will help boost spending in 2013, as will purchases of printers and mobile phones. On the other hand, lower-priced tablets will help businesses save money.
I’m not sure why writer Ted Samson (or someone else at InfoWorld) chose to emphasize big data in its headline, other than to capitalize on a popular keyword. Here is the entirety of that technology’s mention in the article, within the paragraph on software:
“Enterprise software makers stand to see the significant gains from increased IT spending. Gartner expects a 6.4 percent increase in spending on software this year, up from $278 billion in 2012 to $296 billion in 2013. The figure will hit $316 billion in 2014, a 6.8 percent increase. The key markets for 2013 will include security, storage management and CRM. ‘However, beginning in 2014, markets aligned to big data and other information management initiatives, such as enterprise content management, data integration tools, and data-quality tools will begin to see increased levels of investment,’ according to Gartner.”
Okay, we get it — companies will be investing more in the management of large amounts of data. Among many other things. (Perhaps you can tell I’m a bit tired of the hype.)
The article also points to conclusions from another research company, Forrester. They also predict spending increases in enterprise software, driven mainly by SaaS and data-driven smart apps. They foresee increased work for IT services as a result of the cloud-storage trend and increased spending on data center systems. However, the global telecom services market remains top dog in the realm of IT-spending.
Cynthia Murrell, February 01, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data Hailed as Triumphant
January 30, 2013
We’ve tripped over more big-data cheerleading, and we are ready to say, “enough already.” The timpark.io blog trumpets, “Data Trumps Everything.” Oh, really?
Mr. Park uses the example of the modern supermarket to illustrate his assertion: the use of big-data analysis has eclipsed human experience and intuition. While information technology was adopted to assist the seasoned manager with time-consuming calculations, the write-up asserts that big data has now taken over. Using grocery-receipt data, software now analyzes a myriad of factors, builds sophisticated models, and directs in-store humans in order to maximize profits. Park notes:
“That Halloween expansion of candy? That wasn’t a guess – the supermarket knows down to a matter of hours of when to roll that out. This is an obvious example, but a data scientist at one major retailer confided to me that they have over 550 such rotations that happen in a year to capture ebbs and flows in certain products. Some of these are obvious, like Halloween candy or Valentine’s Day cards, that any human manager could have predicted — perhaps not with the accuracy of the data driven approach — but close enough. But the vast majority of these are changes that frankly they don’t completely understand, like that having a sale on cereal on Tuesdays results in 17% more profit in breakfast products during 2 week periods where less than 4 sunny days are forecast.”
Park is correct that this is now our grocery-store reality. He is even correct to extrapolate that many other types of business are following suit. However, going on to say that data trumps “everything” is, shall we say, a bit simplistic. Even at large retail chains, humans take ultimate responsibility for decisions, including whether or not to follow the suggestions of that pricey software they chose to buy.
Now, if Watson ever takes over as CEO at IBM, that will be a different matter.
Cynthia Murrell, January 30, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
DataStax Bumps Up NoSQL with New Enterprise Edition
January 28, 2013
DataStax has increased the power of its NoSQL database by adding the latest Hadoop data muncher and Solr search. The Register covers all the new features in its article, “DataStax Cranks Up Facebook NoSQL to 3.0 with Enterprise Features.”
The article begins:
“DataStax, the company that was founded to take the Cassandra NoSQL data store created by Facebook commercial and therefore usable by mere enterprise data centers, is keeping to its cadence and is rolling up a new release of its DataStax Enterprise Edition. The company has also put out an update to its Community Edition, which is available for free and which does not include some of the proprietary integrations between the Cassandra data store and the Hadoop big data muncher and the Solr search engine that have been tweaked to run atop of Cassandra.”
Open source is the foundation of Cassandra and the enhancements to DataStax Enterprise 3.0 are also due to open source technology. Hadoop and Solr are both part of the Apache Foundation open source community. Solr is known as the best open source search option, serving as the foundation for many commercial search systems. One award-winner known for its Solr and Lucene foundation is LucidWorks. LucidWorks builds Big Data and enterprise search solutions on the strength of these trusted open source essentials.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 28, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
The Truth Behind Cloud Computing Costs
January 25, 2013
Cloud computing allows users ease and accessibility and lower costs, but Datamation analyzes, “What Are The Hidden Costs Of Cloud Computing?” Datamation pulls it information from Symantec’s “Avoiding the Hidden Costs of Cloud 2013” survey, that shows cloud adoption is very high. Rogue deployments came from 77% of the survey-takers, meaning the clouds were not approved by corporate IT. Does anyone else here security breech problems?
Cloud storage may be lighter than air, but it is also costing money. That is not the scary point, however:
“Perhaps even more concerning is the fact that 43 percent of respondents admitted that they have lost data in the cloud. In Elliot’s view, there are a number of reasons for the cloud data loss. For one, the cloud data provider could have lost the data in a failure of some sort. What is more likely, though, is that some form of user human error led to the data loss.
‘The user could have accidentally misplaced the data and literally just could not find it,’ [Dave Elliott, senior manager, Global Cloud Marketing at Symantec] said.”
Cloud users are also not fully using all of the storage they pay for and they also do not have data duplication in place. What can we learn from this? Install security policies for the cloud, reevaluate the costs, and make sure everything is consistent! In truth, does anyone even notice the costs compared to responsibilities being shuffled around and cutting staff?
Whitney Grace, January 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Stunning Visuals Show How Datasets Connect
January 25, 2013
Data analysis can be tricky business, especially when you have been staring at a computer screen and all the information blurs together. What if there was a way to make the data more visually stimulating, not to mention could take out the guesswork in correlations? Gigaom may have found the answer, “Has Ayasdi Turned Machine Learning Into A Magic Bullet?” Ayasdi is a startup company that has created software for visually mapping hidden connections in massive datasets. The company just opened its doors with $10.25 million in funding, but what is really impressive is their software offering:
“At its core, Ayasdi’s product, a cloud-based service called the Insight Discovery Platform, is a mix of distributed computing, machine learning and user experience technologies. It processes data, discovers the correlations between data points, and then displays the results in a stunning visualization that’s essentially a map of the dataset and the connections between every point within it. In fact, Ayasdi is based on research into the field of topological data analysis, which Co-founder and President Gunnar Carlsson describes a quest to present data as intuitively as possible based solely on the similarity of (or distance between, in a topological sense) the data points.”
The way the software works is similar to social networking. Social networking software maps connections between users and their content, but the algorithms do not understand what the connections mean. Ayasdi makes it easier for its users to attach meaning to the correlations. The article also points out that Ayasdi’s software is hardly a new concept, but for some working in BI it takes out a lot of the discovery work. The software may be really smart, but humans are still needed to interpret the data.
Whitney Grace, January 25, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Datastax Announces Next Enterprise Version
January 24, 2013
Datastax, a company built around the Cassandra NoSQL database, is releasing Datastax Enterprise 3.0. SysCon Media offers the full release announcement in, “DataStax Enterprise (DSE) 3.0 Offers Most Comprehensive Security Feature Set Among All NoSQL Providers; Enables Enterprises to Adopt NoSQL Databases While Safely Scaling Their Big Data Infrastructure.”
The article begins:
“DataStax, the company that powers the big data apps that transform business, today announced the early adopter program (EAP) launch of DataStax Enterprise (DSE) 3.0. The new version provides core security capabilities to the entire Cassandra community, as well as the advanced data protection that businesses expect in an enterprise-grade database. DSE 3.0 supplies the type of security framework that allows modern enterprises to confidently adopt NoSQL databases as they safely scale their big data infrastructure.”
Datastax makes a good product, but it is by no means the only option for managing Big Data in the enterprise. And as far as security is concerned, other software solutions do a good job as well. One option that combines security with Big Data usability is LucidWorks and their LucidWorks Big Data product. LucidWorks is built on Apache Lucene, so it is a completely different animal, but the reviews are good and everyone agrees it is a dependable option for getting the most out of your Big Data.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 24, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Big Data Push Back
January 17, 2013
Businesses love Big Data because it allows them to analyze years’ worth of data, discover trends, an open new revenue streams, right? No so, according to Leena Rao of Tech Crunch in her article, “Why We Need To Kill ‘Big Data.’” Rao believes the word is outdated and does not reflect what is going on now with data. The current trend deals with how people use the data, the apps, and the insights it can provide. Big Data is not only used in enterprise systems. Nearly every company these days is a Big Data company and Big Data start-ups do not describe everything the company can do.
It is important to analyze and cash in on the data, because many industries including advertising and e-commerce depend on it. We just have to change the way it is viewed:
“Another fact worth pointing out is that enterprise companies like IBM, large retailers, financial services giants and many others have been parsing through massive amounts of data for some time now, before this word was even coined. It’s just that the types of data we are now parsing through is different, and we don’t need to be using these data analytics systems through on-site data centers. So let’s figure out a different way to describe startups that are dealing with large quantities of data. Perhaps it’s about the actual functionality of apps vs. the data. It’s the New Year and a great time to brainstorm over ways we can avoid ‘the term that must not be named.’”
Big Data is an outdated buzzword, but if we get rid of it what will replace it? Possibly something even more annoying and less descriptive?
Whitney Grace, January 17, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Beyond Search
Autonomy Tech Features Prominently at HP
January 9, 2013
HP is now committed to cloud services, security, and information, according to one insider. Will the approach gel into a solution that makes Autonomy pay off, despite the recent acrimony? Perhaps. ServicesAngle tells us, “Beyond the Controversy, Autonomy at Center of HP Information Strategy.”
One of Autonomy’s advantages is its approach to storage and analysis. While traditional systems store data and perform analysis in separate systems, the Idol platform runs directly on the storage server. The article says this makes the Autonomy approach 40 times faster than that of the competition. Writer Bert Latamore continues:
“Integrate that with HP’s other major Big Data analytics acquisition, Vertica, which is very good at handling very large structured databases, and you have a system that can tame the largest Big Data databases, [Autonomy VP Brian]Wyse says. That is exactly what HP has done, and now it is embedding the Idol/Vertica system in the heart of a list of Big Data products that do anything from analyzing huge medical databases to predicting which HP products in which client environments may fail in the next month, allowing HP to provide proactive to its customers. ‘This is unique to HP,’ Wyse said.”
The write-up emphasizes advantages of speedier analysis. Primarily, companies can actually do something with all that data they’ve bothered to collect but haven’t had time to process. That is certainly a plus. Latamore also gives an example of the sort of thing quick analysis can catch: When producers of Madagascar commissioned an analysis to see how kids reacted to the film, analysts found that children in one particular venue “were running screaming from the theater.” It seems that locale was running a horror-movie promotion before the show. Oops!
So, it looks like Autonomy‘s technology, particularly when paired with Vertica, is becoming a real boon for HP. It’s a shame about the recent accounting conflict, but at least software doesn’t harbor hard feelings.
Cynthia Murrell, January 09, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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