The Results Are In … Big Data Won the US Election

Welcome to the Wednesday edition of the IP news roundup. Here are the latest headlines in big data, VoIP and cloud:

• Big data and cloud computing gave Obama a huge advantage. An article on the Computerworld Government IT blog explored how Obama used big data to win the election. For example, the Obama campaign analysed data, going back to the 2008 campaign, to rally support and drive voters to various campaign websites and social networks. In addition, pollsters were able to successfully predict the results — down to the exact number of electoral votes. According to the article, “What is remarkable here, is not only that savvy pollsters are using predictive analytics to determine outcomes — but just how accurate these predictions have proved, particularly compared with old-school Washington methodologies of going on a hunch, following your instinct, etc.” Be sure to check out the Computerworld article for more ways big data and cloud computing influenced the US election.
• VoIP is the future, but it still has a long way to go. With AT&T wanting to transition its services from legacy to VoIP, the AOL DailyFinance blog explored what this would mean for the average consumer. According to the article, “AT&T doesn’t want to deal with TDM service anymore because it’s a dying technology, one that doesn’t bring in the revenue. Many consumers are already getting voice service from cable companies, and a third of people in the country already use a cellphone for voice.” However, the article warns that VoIP has a long way to go when it comes to emergency phone services: if the power goes out, customers lose their phone services. The article cited an example from Hurricane Sandy in which a woman with no power was able to pull her old landline out of a closet and plug it in to get phone service. This is something providers will need to address as the world moves to VoIP.
• CIOs who spend too much time planning big data projects may not see results. An article on The Register warned CIOs not to waste time on excessive big data planning, as this can “delay initiatives to the point where the intelligence they generate is useless to the business.” The article quoted an IDC survey which revealed that nearly 25% of Asia Pacific Business Analytics Conference 2012 attendees spent between one and two years drafting initial requirements before projects were fully up and running. The article also quoted Claus Mortensen, director, Emerging Technology Research, IDC Asia/Pacific, who said that if you wait this long, “everything you do will be obsolete and certainly you won’t be able to fulfill the requirements you’ve set up.” Mortensen also advised, “It’s better to do it wrong than not at all.”
• And finally … the debate about public vs. private cloud continues. Many IT professionals choose public clouds for simplicity, while others opt for the privacy offered by a private cloud. However, Wired.com suggests that you can get the best of both worlds by adopting a new cloud model where the services are public but the data remains private. The article states, “In this cloud-managed private cloud paradigm, the administrative tasks for cloud, user, access and organization management are performed via the public cloud, but data remains in the enterprise’s existing internal storage infrastructure. This model enables enterprises to more easily deploy collaboration tools, support collaboration across enterprises, and allow for web and mobile access — accomplished via publicly or privately deployed resources depending on the privacy needs of the enterprise.” 

What is your take on today’s news? Feel free to share your opinions below.