Big Data Topic Center

Big data news, in-depth articles and more

Software AG buys complex-event processing technology from Progress

Software AG is building out its portfolio of CEP (complex-event processing) software with the acquisition of Apama from Progress Software, in the second CEP-related deal this week. Terms of the deal, which was announced Thursday, were not disclosed.
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HP aims to shrink big data

Hewlett-Packard wants to help organizations get rid of their useless data, all the information that is no longer needed yet still takes up expensive space on storage servers.

SAP at work on Sentinel, an 'Amazon for Stocks'

SAP is at work on a new product called Sentinel that is supposed to be "nothing less than the Amazon for Stocks and the Facebook for Investors," according to a job posting associated with the project.

Big Data Surge From Federal Agencies Will Drive Health IT

Department of Health and Human Services unleashes new structured data sets as it encourages the developer community to build new health IT applications to improve patient care.

How to Profit From the Ultimate Big Data Source: The Weather

By analyzing a wealth of weather information, multiple industries can adjust inventories and marketing schemes based on the shifting winds of Mother Nature.

SAP builds out HANA platform and ecosystem

Anyone remotely within the orbit of SAP lately knows that its number-one focus is the HANA in-memory database and development platform. At this week's Sapphire conference in Orlando, the vendor sought to show the progress it is making in both building out HANA's capabilities as well as attracting developers and partners to HANA.

More data isn't always better, says Nate Silver

Big data may seem to promise big insights to users, but more isn't always better, cautions statistician Nate Silver.

SAP unveils HANA Enterprise Cloud service

SAP is set to offer customers the option of running their applications on top of a cloud-based version of its HANA in-memory database technology.

Hadoop updates search with MapR, Cloudera releases

Users of the Hadoop data processing platform now have two more search engines to help them sort through their mountains of information.

Crowdsourcing Offers a New and Wider Path to Innovation

GE, Allstate try crowdsourcing contests where external brainiacs compete to produce the best answers to big-data analytics questions.

Computerworld Honors 2013: Combating pirate attacks near the coast of Somalia with statistical modeling

The Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, the 21st Century Achievement Award winner for safety & security, uses technology to forecast the probability of pirate activity.

UN tackles socio-economic crises with big data

Four of this year's Computerworld Honors Laureates are using big data to battle the effects of unemployment and climate change, raise social awareness and help at-risk students.

Tech hotshots: The rise of the dataviz expert

As analytics become more ingrained in corporations, data visualizers are the new go-to experts in demand -- but do they work for IT or give IT its marching orders?

How big data will save your life

Big data analytics is creating a world where doctors will eventually be able to do a Google-like query on a patients illness and instantly discover how 100,000 other doctors treated their patients. It's also driving new treatments through genomic profiling.

Social Data Warehousing Is Worth the Trouble

Everybody knows data warehousing is big data. But when you want to understand what's really going on with your customers' social interactions, terabytes may seem small. It's a laborious process, but the insight it provides can reap big rewards.

Forget big data, the value is in 'big answers'

The CTO of Barack Obama's reelection campaign says we need to stop worrying about big data and turn our attention instead to the 'big answers' the data provides. EMC, which made big data news this week, is one tech company that plans to translate big answers into big customer wins.

How to manage big data overload

The nuts and bolts of systems designed storing petabytes (and more) of data that can be easily accessed and analyzed are more complex than the inner workings of your average storage platform. Here's how to handle the data deluge. Insider (registration required)

Big data means big IT job opportunities -- for the right people

As companies embrace big data, they're in the market for high-level strategists and communicators. Do you have the chops to snag a big data job?

Political IT: How campaigns mine the Web - part 2

Advocacy groups and political campaigns have unparalleled access to vast amounts of new and detailed data on voters interests, hobbies, lifestyles and political leanings -- and they're grappling with how to best exploit these vast troves of unstructured data.

Big hopes for big data, survey says

For companies drowning in data, extracting value from all this information is a major IT priority. But success depends on how well customers tackle significant organizational challenges.