Big Data -- To Improve Security?

A good amount of organizations still have NO clue when it comes to the use of Big Data to improve security operations. However, Preston Wood (CISO and Executive VP, Security, Zions Bancorporation) has been using it to "bolster his security program" for a long while now. But how have they been able to achieve this?

1. They adopted Big Data early before it became known by that name. They were producing around 3 terabytes of data on a weekly basis (from their security tools and devices alone) as early as the 1990s. They found a way, that early, to "make sense of its security posture."

Zion's approach was to "make the big data approach a central piece of its security." This was different from how others approach such data (Others saw such data as potential holes in their defenses). This approach helped them see clues of intrusion and potential breaches.

Learn more about Big Data improving security, click here...

About the Author: Shane Penrod is a Florida Native that currently resides in Tampa Florida with his beautiful Fiance Jaime and their 7 dogs. Shane is passionate about the emergence of Big Data and its endless potential, an Internet Marketer by trade, and an entrepreneur at heart. You can follow Shane's updates on bigdatacompanies.com, Twitter, Facebook, and G+.

Jumping Into Big Data? Some Things To Consider

It is no longer a question of whether your business stands to benefit a lot from Big Data. We've gone past that stage in the lifecycle of this technology or phenomenon (whichever you find more suitable). But where do you start with the implementation? According to Eric Knorr of infoworld, it all has to do with the problems you want to solve in the first place.

He looks at a number of scenarios (Here's a summary of what he captures in his article)...

1. Businesses That "Don't Want To Pay Oracle More Money"

Although this isn't a problem that should really be associated with Big Data, the fact remains that applications used in Big Data can help you deal with such a challenge.

Businesses have, by default, used Oracle as a "battle-tested, unassailable RDBM". However, NoSQL solutions (which are usually open source) perform a lot better for much lower cash outlay. This is especially the case when complex transactions, relational capability, two-phase commits, etc don't factor-in in database needs.

Furthermore, when working on projects that have to do with web applications (where instant scalability is demanded); there are a number of low-cost alternatives.

Read more scenarios here...

Big Data -- A Big Opportunity For Service Providers

Services providers have come to a point where they now see the big opportunities that Big Data represents. Yes, they've gone from the struggles of capturing or managing huge data volumes to a point where they now see the true business potential. This is the thought captured by Dana Porter, Head of Global Marketing at Amdocs, a provider of customer experience systems and services.

Some industry buzz words ("Big Data" and "cloud" come readily to mind) often lose their true meanings with time. The wrong use, however, shouldn't take away from the fact that communications providers, for example, will be able to meet their customers' demands better because of Big Data.

She makes some important points. The first is the rising costs of storage for organizations. While it is true that the cost of storing a gigabyte of data is a lot less than it was a few years ago, the fact that data volumes have literarily exploded means that companies still need to budget very significant amounts to store such massive volumes of data assets.

Take for example, that the projected volume of IP traffic is expected to hit 1.3 Zettabytes by 2016 and it will give this some perspective. So while cost per gigabyte of storage is down, businesses now have to deal with data volumes that were simply inconceivable just a few years ago.

To read more, click here...

Ford Exploits Big Data To Improve Results -- Lessons For Your Business

Ford has positioned itself to take advantage of Big Data in such a way that is guaranteed to improve their business results. They have adopted an approach that focuses on gathering and analyzing data from their best processes and vehicles to help them streamline processes, improve manufacturing and overall quality.

Michael Cavaretta (One of the major brains behind this move by Ford) is part of a group of experts who have gathered in Newport Beach, California for the Open Group Conference. To his credit, he has led projects at Ford that have helped them use internal data to determine new features that will make their vehicles stand out.

Dana Gardner (Principal analyst at Interarbor Solutions) was able to interview him and here are a few points from that interview...
1. The cost of data storage is a lot lower now. This means that organizations don't have to worry about sorting data sets that should be kept for the long term. You just keep the whole lot and gain the benefits of having your complete data assets. In his words, Cavaretta says: "I have yet to have a circumstance where somebody is giving me too much data."

The truth is that you can do a lot more when you don't have to throw some data sets out. NOT having to throw anything out means you can answer a wider variety of questions now and in the future.

To read more points from this interview, click here...

How To Fail With Big Data? Have Unrealistic And Vague Goals

One of the major reasons for Big Data failure in many organizations is not taking the time to set out clear and realistic goals from the very beginning. Doug Henschen (Executive Editor, InformationWeek) reports on findings made from a survey of IT staff (Conducted by Infochimps — A cloud-services provider).

The survey, which considered the opinions of 300 IT staffers, showed the following…

1. There are unrealistic expectations of Hadoop. Many have the erroneous belief that it can handle all their Big Data challenges. Relying on Hadoop-based techniques alone will hamper an organization’s ability to meet its needs for analysis. To read on this further, click here...

Big Data and Cloud Computing -- Are They Threats?

It's not often that people see technological advancements as threats. However, the reality on ground for many workers is that such advances have rendered them surplus. And as many of them would point out, two phenomena (Big Data and cloud computing) seem to play big roles in the challenges they face. An article I came across on Washington Post gave intriguing examples.  The examples pose the question: "Should your business step away from the use of Big Data because it renders certain classes of workers surplus?"  Read about two of the examples and answer to the question, click here...

Big Data Governance -- Does Your Organization Need It?

Sunil Soares is one of the leading authorities when it comes to data governance. He has made significant contributions through his books, industry websites and while he worked with IBM. His new book: “Big Data Governance, an Emerging Imperative” happens to be the first volume by an expert to deal comprehensively with the subject matter. Jim Ericson (Editorial Director, Information Management) spoke with him on the timing and purpose of his book.

His book describes Big Data governance as emergent and when Eric asks how emergent it is, he (Sunil Soares) pointed out a number of things...

1. Many CIO and CTO clients don't even realize that they are already dealing with Big Data. In a particular instance one of such executives said he was focused on the "governance of small data".

But that said; it doesn't matter what the CIOs and CTOs want to call it. If it is Big Data then there are going to be serious governance implications. One example cited is the merging of social media data with a company's master data. Facebook, for instance, has a policy that demands that you delete a person's data from your database if they "unfriend" you.

Challenges like this make data governance imperative.

Click here, to read more...

About the Author: Shane Penrod is a Florida Native that currently resides in Tampa Florida with his beautiful Fiance Jaime and their 7 dogs. Shane is passionate about the emergence of Big Data and its endless potential, an Internet Marketer by trade, and an entrepreneur at heart. You can follow Shane's updates on Big Data Companies, Facebook, and G+.