University makes major investment in big data development
As news of the benefits provided by big data platforms such as Apache Hadoop spreads, more organizations are investing in the burgeoning technology. With applications that stretch across any sector, there is room for big data growth in every industry. Officials from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., for example, recently announced that they intend to build a $100 million center to pursue big data developments and research.
According to the Times Union, school administrators stated that the facility, dubbed the Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications (IDEA), will operate as a centralized hub for multiple departments across the university's five schools, allowing students as well as private investors to benefit from the big data advancements discovered within the state-of-the-art research facility.
"This will maximize the ability of our researchers to harness the expanding possibilities for discovery and innovation in a data-driven, supercomputer-powered, web-enabled, globally interconnected world," said RPI president Shirley Jackson.…
University makes major investment in big data development
As news of the benefits provided by big data platforms such as Apache Hadoop spreads, more organizations are investing in the burgeoning technology. With applications that stretch across any sector, there is room for big data growth in every industry. Officials from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., for example, recently announced that they intend to build a $100 million center to pursue big data developments and research.
According to the Times Union, school administrators stated that the facility, dubbed the Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications (IDEA), will operate as a centralized hub for multiple departments across the university's five schools, allowing students as well as private investors to benefit from the big data advancements discovered within the state-of-the-art research facility.
"This will maximize the ability of our researchers to harness the expanding possibilities for discovery and innovation in a data-driven, supercomputer-powered, web-enabled, globally interconnected world," said RPI president Shirley Jackson.…
Circumventing big data hurdles with Apache Hadoop and Hortonworks
Circumventing big data hurdles with Apache Hadoop and Hortonworks
Big data analytics have gained in popularity over the last few years, yet many operations continue to struggle with their implementation. Not all analytics platforms are created equal and businesses may find that a hastily chosen application is unsuitable for their needs and existing capabilities. For instance, only the most high-quality solutions will facilitate the use of unstructured data. The scope of a data analytics project can be greatly improved by incorporating difficult-to-quantify information sources such as audio and video recordings, allowing researchers to dig deeper into the data pool and glean more actionable insights.
The need for greater functionality has driven many organizations to choose Apache Hadoop as the platform from which to launch their big data initiatives, spurring market growth. According to a report released by MarketsandMarkets, the global Hadoop market is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 55 percent through 2016.…
Hadoop tutorial: what is Hadoop-able?
Is every piece of information under the big data umbrella eligible for inclusion in Hadoop architecture? To answer that question, it's important to first look at the ways that many companies use Hadoop. In some cases, Hadoop can be one component of a larger analytics platform, but often such potpourri approaches result in less than optimal insights. Consolidating big data strategies under the Apache Hadoop umbrella can add increased direction to information-driven initiatives and ultimately increase the ROI of such of insights.
A recent report by the Aberdeen Group found that businesses that used 'best-in-class' data analysis methods made significant gains in business critical functions (to be considered 'best-in-class,' at least 76 percent of business users had to be actively engaged with business analytics). In three major categories: business process cycle time; customer response time; and knowledge sharing and collaboration, the study found that in each metric, at least 80 percent of 'best-in-class' users reported marked improvement.…
Hadoop tutorial: what is Hadoop-able?
Is every piece of information under the big data umbrella eligible for inclusion in Hadoop architecture? To answer that question, it's important to first look at the ways that many companies use Hadoop. In some cases, Hadoop can be one component of a larger analytics platform, but often such potpourri approaches result in less than optimal insights. Consolidating big data strategies under the Apache Hadoop umbrella can add increased direction to information-driven initiatives and ultimately increase the ROI of such of insights.
A recent report by the Aberdeen Group found that businesses that used 'best-in-class' data analysis methods made significant gains in business critical functions (to be considered 'best-in-class,' at least 76 percent of business users had to be actively engaged with business analytics). In three major categories: business process cycle time; customer response time; and knowledge sharing and collaboration, the study found that in each metric, at least 80 percent of 'best-in-class' users reported marked improvement.…
Apache Hadoop partnership stresses flexibility and freedom
One of the key issues that prospective big data adopters need to consider before deploying an advanced analytics project is data storage. As its name implies, big data requires a massive amount of information to be compiled and analyzed to ensure the best results. However, the high cost of servers has often made the launch of a big data project difficult if not impossible for many prospective businesses. The emergence of Apache Hadoop has created a viable solution to this problem, as the platform provides cost-effect data storage capabilities for advanced analytics projects.
Those features are poised to have a considerable upgrade with the recent announcement from Hortonworks and Red Hat that the two companies have partnered to provide enterprises with far greater flexibility integrating storage solutions with Hadoop. For instance, Hortonworks' Hadoop architecture will be compatible with Red Hat's storage solutions, allowing clients to launch Hadoop from a POSIX-compliant storage node.…
Improving healthcare with Hadoop big data
Having access to information that epitomizes the three Vs of big data – volume, velocity and variety – is critical to bettering efficiency and reliability in the healthcare system. Singular doctor-to-patient interactions benefit from having a clear, organized and comprehensive picture of the patient's medical history, while large-scale medical breakthroughs rely on having an exhaustive picture of salient information, germane cases and prior developments. Medical professionals can ill afford to concentrate significant resources and instruction time on the improvement of data collection and usage, so they require an ad hoc, simple solution: Apache Hadoop.
The lack of successful big data analysis strategies means that the healthcare sector is merely scratching the surface of the certain benefits of information, according to PhysBizTech contributor Jeff Rowe. He identified three key areas of potential growth through data analytics: improving the patient experience, finding and fixing inconsistencies in data-driven integration and providing conclusive evidence for medical care best practices.…
Hadoop Tutorial: Hadoop HBase
One of Apache Hadoop's chief advantages over the tradition of relational data models is that it shifts to accommodate information, rather than cramming ill-fitting data into a structured set of approaches. Harnessing big data presents several challenges for enterprising Hadoop adopters, not the least of which is effective storage and retrieval. At the same time, businesses don't want to waste resources figuring out how to best store their data without having assurances that the data will work for them. Concerns about usability have a significant effect on the progression of organizations toward data-driven insights, wrote Wired contributor Hannah Smalltree.
"To get value from big data, analysts need tools that can support rapid, ad-hoc analysis of large-scale datasets," she wrote.
What is Hadoop HBase?
Hadoop HBase is one of the central players in this scalable solution, designed expressly using an open-source framework to make sense of huge amounts of big data.…
Configuring Hadoop for nonprofits and government organizations
Nonprofit and government organizations both aim to use their resources in the most cost-effective way while maximizing objective improvement in some aspect of people's lives. They are held accountable by investors and constituents to deliver actionable results and must deploy their intelligence through productive, pertinent modalities. One of the benefits of Apache Hadoop is making data meaningful by building directed applications for its distribution. The open-source history of Hadoop conveys the general sentiment that big data has little meaning on its own, and it's necessary to develop systems through which to harness and clarify it.
Recently, the Harvard Business Review considered the importance of 'medium data' for nonprofit organizations. The article argued that in this sense, 'medium data' is information which is structured alongside an organization's core issues and objectives. 'Medium' has more than one meaning, however. A medium can also be the ambient manner in which one can convey information or interpret insights, to echo media theorist Marshall McLuhan's well-known observation that "the medium is the message." Medium data doesn't have to end up meaning that an organization cuts itself off from data inputs at a certain time once some arbitrary capacity has been reached – it means that information must go hand-in-hand with the organization's plans to make it actionable.…
Students take on crime with big data
Budget cuts have substantially hindered the effectiveness of law enforcement departments across the country in recent years. According to a survey conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum, 51 percent of participating agencies said they had seen their available resources reduced in the current fiscal year. In addition, the average respondent expected to receive a 5.3 percent budget cut by the end of 2013. To address these financial issues, many departments have been forced to refrain from bringing on additional police officers, while others have made sweeping layoffs. Forty-five percent of the survey participants reported implementing a hiring freeze, and 23 percent said they had recently reduced their manpower to save on operational costs.
With fewer available police officers to patrol communities, services in many areas have been scaled back, with many departments opting to not respond to crimes where the victims are not in any immediate danger, such as burglaries.…
Hadoop tutorial: vitalizing the data storage ecosystem
One of the most crucial components of Hadoop architecture is the data warehouse, the mainframe where information is stored, shared and accessed. One of the ways that big data analysis has changed the way that companies use information is that data is now recognized as an active force, rather than a motionless one. The scope and potency of real-time information affects business analytics strategies, showing firms that they're better off treating big data as a sensitive ecosystem than as a static tableau. Apache Hadoop solutions increase the vitality of analytical modalities, and a finely engineered, well-oiled storage machine will provide a stronger foundation for generating data discoveries. What follows is a Hadoop tutorial in optimizing the viability of active data storage.
Optimizing collection
Collecting data efficiently is a more involved process than simply loading up on information from every available source.…
The rise of Hadoop’s dominance in the big data market
Hadoop architecture has long been a foundational piece of the big data boom of the past few years. Whereas other options constrained the abilities of enterprises to create data analytics solutions that met their specific needs, Hadoop architecture provided companies with an open source platform to custom build their big data projects.
This scalability and flexibility has driven interest in the technology in recent years. According to a study conducted by TechNavio, the global Hadoop market is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of more than 55 percent from 2012 to 2016. Although the report's researchers did not credit that substantial growth beyond anything more than an overall rising demand for big data analytics, other industry members have offered a more insightful analysis for the surging success of Hadoop solutions.
Data analytics expert Brian Proffitt recently explained in ReadWrite that Hadoop technology has succeeded because it addressed one of the major issues that had previously prevented businesses from deploying data analytics projects: cost.…
Demand for Hadoop installation evident in latest IT trends
The most sought-after skills in the IT job market offer a window into the approaches that are driving technological innovation, as organizations make an effort to attract personnel that can propel their business forward. Current research indicated that Hadoop and big data are the analytical frameworks for which organizations are in the hottest pursuit. According to IT career consultants Dice, Hadoop-related skills are in the highest demand by hiring managers, with Hadoop and Java topping the list. Furthermore, Hadoop and MapReduce, Pig and Hive are all in the top ten. These positions cannot be entirely filled by new candidates, however, because there isn't enough supply to meet the demand. This problem was discussed at the recent MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, reported Data Informed.
"When it comes to analytics, there's not a large talent pool," said IT solutions professional John Roese at the symposium.…
Big data and Hadoop: it’s about the community
What Apache Hadoop offers its business users isn't just an enterprise outpost in the vast landscape of big data – it presents the opportunity to form a community. From the start, Hadoop has been a community-driven entity, a collaborative platform for innovators to develop and articulate new strategies in a supportive environment. Optimized Hadoop is a reciprocal relationship between data and analysts, who continuously build on an array of researched observations to produce a panoply of actionable practices. As more organizations target stronger collaborative initiatives with service partners and build relationships with employees and consumers, a synergetic business ethos will continue to be an asset, spurring further growth. Apache Hadoop is geared toward these forward-thinking businesses, and its adoption, like its optimal use, can be a collaborative effort.
Building colonies with Hadoop architecture
Using Hadoop datanodes as the cornerstones of big data analysis strategies ensures that information-driven insights will be structured.…
The value of Hadoop and big data to government
Hadoop and big data tools have largely been utilized by entities within the private sector, but they can provide just as many benefits to government agencies as well. In fact, many experts have advocated for government officials to allocate more federal and state-level spending to data analytics programs.
FierceGovernmentIT reported that Farnam Jahanian, assistant director of the National Science Foundation, recently addressed the House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee on the benefits of big data. Jahanian urged the subcommittee to direct more funds to government big data projects, specifically to bolster infrastructure and processing capabilities.
"We view computation and data as two sides of the same coin," Jahanian said. "You really need to address both. So, when we talk about computational capabilities, we also have to worry about cyber infrastructure to manage, to curate, to serve data to the science and engineering community."
StateTech Magazine recently outlined several ways big data analytics projects could improve various aspects of local and federal governance, including:
- Reduce operational inefficiencies and improve civil servant productivity
- Enhance relations with the public by offering greater transparency and enhancing the quality of available services
- Identify national security threats and incidents of fraud, allowing law enforcement to react swiftly before these crimes escalate
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