Big data is about analytics, not storage

In this column, John Webster from the Evaluator Group, an analyst firm that focuses on storage, makes the distinction between the problems and opportunties of storing lots of data and mining it. The former, he says, is nothing to be concerned about one way or the other– there hasn’t been much of a paradigm shift in storage, after all. 
 

What’s important, he says, is mining and extracting information from that data, alluding to artificial intelligence. The great majority of “big data” is in unstructured form, and that is where the major innovations are going to come in.

I’m actually exploring the topic of unstructured data, artificial intelligence and insights myself in ComputerWorld Canada’s September digital edition. I focus on a distinction in analytics itself: the difference between making observations, as it were, from millions of pieces of data, versus drawing one inference from it all. They are both very different and require completely different types of infrastructure (inferences from massive amounts of data cannot generally be done on distributed platforms; this usually requires HPC technology).

Would you recommend this article?

Share

Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you think of this article!
We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.


Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

Featured Download

Featured Articles

Cybersecurity in 2024: Priorities and challenges for Canadian organizations 

By Derek Manky As predictions for 2024 point to the continued expansion...

Survey shows generative AI is a top priority for Canadian corporate leaders.

Leaders are devoting significant budget to generative AI for 2024 Canadian corporate...

Related Tech News

Tech Jobs

Our experienced team of journalists and bloggers bring you engaging in-depth interviews, videos and content targeted to IT professionals and line-of-business executives.

Tech Companies Hiring Right Now