Big Data to Be $50 Billion Industry by 2017

Today’s IP news roundup focuses on big data. Here’s what you need to know:

• Did you know that big data will be a $50 billion industry by 2017? Or that the Obama administration is investing $200 million in big data research? Check out Wikibon’s article, “A Comprehensive List of Big Data Statistics”, for more intriguing insights that will help you ace your next big data pop quiz.
• If you’d like to learn how NASA is using big data, check out this Silicon Angle blog post. The post highlights a Hadoop Summit 2012 interview with Chris Mattmann, a senior computer scientist at NASA. He discusses big data’s involvement in NASA’s Square Kilometer Array project, “a massive undertaking comprised of a network of radio telescopes that collectively will form the largest radio telescope ever. This international project is the next-generation radio astronomy instrument and will require an astonishing 700TB per second data rate.” Mattmann also discusses how big data is being used in the US National Climate Assessment and with NASA’s remote sensing units.
• Have you ever wondered how big data became one of the biggest technology trends of the year? The New York Times has some answers in “How Big Data Became So Big”. According to the article, “big data” has two big things going for it – one, a catchy and evocative name that is great for marketing, and two, “an evolving set of technologies with great promise and some pitfalls.” However, although “big data” is a big buzzword, its principles have been in place since the late 1800s. Check out the article for big data’s surprisingly long history.
• How do big data analytics differ from traditional analytics? An article sponsored by SAS explores these differences, along with three ways in which organizations that capitalize on big data stand apart from competitors who still rely on traditional data analysis. Opting in is necessary to download this article.
• And finally, here’s a little IT humour to help you ease into the workweek. Dilbert took on big data in a recent comic strip. Let’s see if it can help save his company.