Analytics in the Cloud: Making the Right Connections

A. DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

• ‘Big data’ analytics could have major implications on the ability of providers to move workloads seamlessly between and among clouds based on processing needs and other requirements.
• Vendors and providers alike are gearing up for future needs by investing now in the technology to provide the underlying analytics to automate decision support and drive higher-level computing.

‘Big data’ is one of those great nebulous terms that gains traction in part because it is vague enough to be all-inclusive.  In spirit, big data resembles the amorphous nature of the cloud by offering such an undefined scope that its potential seems nearly endless.  Massive volumes of mobile and other data can provide organizations with deep insights into complex pattern phenomena such as consumer behavior, which can be potentially priceless to a company trying to grow market share.  However, without a way to process all this data, the information is practically unintelligible.