Your daily digest of “All Things Big Data” gathered, collected and researched by your very own 10Fold Big Data Practice team.
Big Data
In InformationWeek’s weekly Big Data roundup, articles surrounding how sensors, tablet devices, and other technologies are helping sports teams uncover insights that can improve their performance on the field. Also included was Tableau’s big scare from its 50% drop in stock on Friday, as well as big drops of other digital companies, including Salesforce, Workday and LinkedIn.The Wall Street Journal called the market’s reaction to Tableau and LinkedIn’s earnings as a “bloodbath,” quoting one analyst as saying that Tableau’s results and guidance delivered a “major gut punch” to investors.
The BBC examines how big data is being used to save lives, noting that experts estimate ninety percent of the data in the world has been created in the past two years alone, thanks to technological innovation. As technology has advanced, so too have the opportunities for scientists. The more genomes are analysed, the greater the hope of new and more effective treatments for rare diseases. In the US, President Obama recently launched a Precision Medicine Initiative which plans to gather big data to develop more individualized care. In China, a study of 500,000 people is doing something similar which will make it possible to compare and contrast the health of entire populations in the not too distant future.
Super Bowl 50 Gets Analyzed, Tableau Spooks Investors: Big Data Roundup – InformationWeek
Hadoop
Since many companies are discovering that getting Hadoop’s cluster to run optimally is a daunting task, they are also taking initiative to ensure that their clusters are running smoothly and efficiently. Dataconomy highlights three warning signs to note to ensure clusters are operating at the highest capacity. First, if there isn’t enough capacity, trace your issues back to the YARN architecture. Second, if your high-priority jobs aren’t finishing on time, check your parameters or configuration settings… Lastly, if a cluster grinds to halt periodically, it could be a big concern. Isolate the cause of the problem using traditional node-monitoring tools.
Smoke Signals Coming from your Hadoop Cluster – Dataconomy
IoT
Many large technology firms such as Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Cisco have all been vying for top positions when it comes to IoT thought leadership. Mike Krell of Moor Insights and Strategy claims Cisco Systems is currently leading the pack. Cisco had a robust 2015, initiating or completing 11 acquisitions. Granted not all of these were “IoT centric”, but many of them began to fill holes in Cisco Systems’ IoT strategy. Cisco began 2016 with two new deals with SK Telecom and Jasper Technologies. The SK Telecom deal extends Cisco Systems’ IoT reach in yet another region, as well as working with a solution that has been demonstrated to be compatible with both oneM2M and Open Internet Consortium. Jasper Technologies has the ability to provide a significant IoT software platform that complements Cisco’s infrastructure hardware strengths.
CIO writes that although IoT is continuing to grow at a rapid pace, TEksystems Research reports some businesses lack confidence in its technology. Though a lot of businesses have invested in IoT, very few have seen IoT impact the organization in a meaningful or measurable way. Businesses overall lack confidence in their ability to adapt quickly to new technology as well as demonstrate the benefits to executives. There is no denying the potential of IoT, yet many businesses have not figured out how to achieve success with this potential quite yet.
CRN published its 10 IoT predictions for 2016. Some predictions include an increase in connected devices. According to Gartner, there will be 6.4 billion connected “things” in use in 2016. Another prediction alluded that Intel will remain at the IoT Forefront. During CES, Intel showed off its smart helmet and smart dress that contained its IoT-focused Curie modules. But they recently revealed that they have even more products up their sleeve for 2016 as they are announced partnerships with SATO, and RetailNext to form a Retail Sensor Platform which will bring IoT into the retail vertical. Other predictions highlight increased consolidation of IoT companies, security breaches on the IoT front will increase caution for IoT game players, and a new WiFi standard will emerge specifically for IoT devices.
India based global services company HCL Technologies has launched an Internet of Things incubation center in Redmond, WA, the home of Microsoft. Both vendors will use Microsoft Azure IoT Suite to create apps for industry and manufacturing and the Life Sciences and Healthcare sector. The incubation center will aim to combine HCL’s skills in engineering and product lifecycle management, systems integration and infrastructure services with Microsoft’s leadership in IoT.
Is Cisco Systems The One To Beat In Industrial IoT? – Forbes
Business leaders lack confidence in IoT technology – CIO
Cognitive Computing
In the UK, a four-year project leveraging big data analytics technologies is bringing together leading British Universities, government agencies, and big pharma companies (Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, etc.) to develop a digital design technique to streamline development and manufacturing of meds, enhance predictive processes and give patients faster access to the drugs they need.
UK Using Cognitive Computing in Personalized Medicine Push – Enterprise Tech
eCommerce
India’s largest restaurant search and food delivery startup, Zomato, announced early this week that it has broken even in several big markets – including India – and will hit profitability by mid-2016. When it does so, Zomato will be the first Indian e-commerce unicorn to become profitable, a significant milestone in a market where Indian startups are finding it quite challenging to lure investors for subsequent rounds because none of them are close to profitability. Zomato’s financial announcement is significant as global investors have poured billions of dollars in venture capital into Indian startups in the last couple of years. Zomato’s healthy financials can mostly be attributed to the fact that the startup does not spend on either marketing or customer acquisitions, unlike other Indian unicorns Flipkart, Snapdeal and Paytm.
CIO commented on eCommerce predictions they believe will take place during 2016. Some examples include: an increase in demand for in-house teams to drive optimization strategies and digital marketing experiences; content and commerce will continue to blend through branded content and informative guides;and customer experience will reign as retailers continue to personalize and tailor their products to their users through search technologies and behavior studies.
Food Startup Zomato Is India’s First Ecommerce Unicorn To Break Even, Headed for Profitability – Forbes
Personalization
Marketers believe 2016 is the year for personalization. According to VentureBeat’s Insight report, 257 of the email marketers surveyed showed increased open rates and click-through rates by employing some form of personalization.
Email personalization: Increase open rates by 500% (webinar) – VentureBeat
Software Defined Networks
Hybrid cloud and DevOps software-defined networking are considered the best supporting approaches to making cloud services succeed. A recent survey by F5 Networks explored the connection between cloud implementations and DevOps, and found that survey respondents seem to associate DevOps more with private cloud. The survey also found that both SDN and DevOps are key to IT’s ability to improve operational efficiency.
Enterprise cloud performs best with DevOps, software-defined networks – ZD Net