Your daily digest of “All Things Big Data” gathered, collected and researched by your very own 10Fold Big Data Practice team.
Big Data
With the Super Bowl just around the corner, it has been a hot topic in the news. The integration of big data into the game has started to make drastic differences when it comes to technique and safety improvements. For example, NFL players will now find sensors on their pads and helmets that collect real-time position data and indicate if a player might have suffered a damaging hit to the head. Besides helping the players be safer and the coaches analyze plays in a more timely manner, big data is also helping sports analyst keep track of the statistics of the game. They can now track distance traveled on the field, position held on the field, how the weather effected the plays, and predicting individual player matchup. Lastly, big data is also changing how people advertise during/around the game. Research shows that most online chatter that occurred about the Super Bowl XLIX occurred after the super bowl took place, proving that post-game was a prime time for advertisers to take advantage of. Research also showed that the hot topic on social media was about the commercials, brands and halftime shows, not about the actual game. So for the financially well-off brands that do advertise during the game, this is a good opportunity to take advantage of.
Big data is no longer just a buzzword word but a requirement for businesses to have in order to grow and thrive. The struggle today, though, is not acquiring a large amount of data but making sense of it. Companies need to understand how to implement the correct data management plan for their business so they can store the data properly and leverage as much information as possible. Memeburn discusses four steps on how to properly leverage the power of big data: first, processing one’s data at the point of collection in a local setting; second, interconnecting data from all sources, such as sales, marketing, manufacturing, production, and so on; third, encouraging employees to give real-time feedback; and fourth, making sure all new initiatives are tested before they are fully deployed across the business.
How the Super Bowl uses Big Data to Change the Game – Forbes
Hadoop
As a continuation of recognition of Hadoop’s 10th birthday, Information Week created a slideshow that covers the top 10 events that have driven the growth of this technology. The slideshow higlighted Cloudera, which is one of the three companies that provided the main commercial distributions of open source Hadoop. The slideshow also noted that Cloudera, Hortonworks and MapR all released their own distribution of Hadoop, yet Apache Software Foundation didn’t released their version 1.0 until much later, during January 2012. Lastly, InformationWeek reflected on the first year of Strata+Hadoop World conference in 2012, noting that it has now become a series of events hosted around the world.
Hadoop at 10: Milestones and momentum – Information Week
IoT
IoT Evolution announced USA Technologies, a mobile payment platform provider, as winner of their 2015 Smart Machine Innovation Award. USA Technologies is responsible for a cutting-edge, end-to-end mobile system called EPort Connect. Eport Connect is “smart technology infrastructure that enables owners and operators to use analytics to gain insight into consumer purchasing behavior and their business, while simultaneously building loyalty with consumers in real time.” The company believes that with these advancements, they will drive improvements in the self-serve retail market.
IoT is more than just metrics and data, it being seen to help improve human welfare. The United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union and Cisco recently released a report titled, “Harnessing the Internet of Things from Global Development.” It covers a range of solutions that could occur with the help of IoT technologies for developing economies spanning energy, healthcare, and agriculture and natural disaster relief. For example, a networked temperature sensor on refrigerator containing vaccines or medicines can maximize the safety and efficacy of medicine, or a smart hand-pump that improves access to waters in villages and monitors the purity of the water. Small smart devices like these are helping to ensure the quality of life in developing countries.
In a new edition to its 2016 predictions series from leading industry analysts and executives, RSR Wireless News notes a major trend in IoT with the ability to deploy solutions internationally, meaning that any smart, connected device will be designed and developed as a global product and will be able to work anywhere and everywhere a customer wants to do business.
USA Technologies’’ payments Platform Wins IoT Evolution Award – PYMNTS
The Internet of Things for developing economies – CIO
2016 Predictions: Global connectivity will power the IoT in 2016 – RCRWireless
Cognitive Computing
Cognitive computing and machine learning are making huge waves in the retail industry. A recent IBM survey shows that 91% of retail industry executives are familiar with cognitive computing and believe it will play a disruptive role in the industry, and 94% of respondents will invest in the technology in the near future. Cognitive computing is opening a new door in the retail industry, helping retailers gain a deeper understanding of their customers, which then allows them to build a closer relationship with their brands and buyers.
Retail’s cognitive future– The Point of Sale news
OpenStack
Today PLUMgrid announced its reseller partnership with Rackspace. Rackspace will resell PLUMgrid’s full SDN product line which includes its Open Networking Suite for OpenStack, CloudApex, and support and trading services. PLUMgrid’s products have also been validated to run with Rackspace’s Private Cloud powered by OpenStack service.
RackSpace to resell PLUMgrid OpenStack SDN – Network World