Interop: Getting the Value Out of Data

Even though there was no single agreement on the definition of BIG DATA presenters agreed that the industry has to bridge the divide between big data and cloud. The underlying message is that data center management cannot keep pace with data growth and cloud is the perfect environment to address performance, capacity and efficiency issues.  

The message that resonated through each presentation was that there is no single definition of BIG DATA either because the term is new or because of the diversity in the industry. Each presenter had his or her definition, but all agreed that current data center management and build-out cannot keep pace with the data growth, which is a core business asset and should be treated as such. Examples of data growth trends cited by presenters:

• 60 hours of video is upload to YouTube every minute
• 350 million Gmail users globally 
• ¼ second is how long it takes for Goggle to respond to a query
• 27% of energy consumption in North America is consumed by servers and data centers
• Greenpeace reports that 2% of the global footprint is data centers

An excellent array of presenters discussed data center storage taxonomy and efficiencies with deep dives into various big data stacks: 

• MGM is connecting its various systems into structured and unstructured data
• X.Com, a business division in Ebay, building its open stack
• Goggle and discussed Big Query, a fully managed data analytics service in the cloud and We Are Cloud conducted a demonstration of real-time data  
• Netflix and how it utilizes Cassandra for testing and other functions

Jeremy Edberg, Netflix, summed up the day with commentaries on the workshops, some of which centered on the various technologies such as Pig, Hadoop, etc., and how they are being utilized in the industry. Presenters gave practical steps that enterprises can take to move beyond distributed to decentralized data storage. Others emphasized the business of making your data an asset to your company. One interesting presentation talked about the legal issues surrounding data and what the federal, state and global community and the laws they are instituting to address privacy issues related to big data. She cited specific legal cases that illustrated the problems the industry is facing because the legal arena is not keeping up as quickly with the technology changes. A case in point, 10 years ago a person’s ZIP code was not considered private; today it is because so much private information can be gleaned from a code.

Regardless of the topic related to data center and cloud — scaling speed, agility, provisioning for data center — the message of BIG DATA was loud and clear: get value out of your data. kgrenier@acgresearch.net