

Big Data will flood the planet in 2012 - zeratul
http://www.economist.com/node/21537922

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ahalan
TheEconomist>> Hadoop, a new type of database, can be used to sift through big
data streams in real time.

HN>> Hadoop is not a new type of database, and it cannot be used to sift
through big data streams in real time.

Related>> Why big data is better than small data : <http://www.quora.com/Why-
the-current-obsession-with-big-data>

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nhebb
_Most important, firms will discover that they can extract value from the
data. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute, a think-tank, found that
analysing health-care data could yield $300 billion-worth of savings in
America alone._

I smell BS. Sounds like they're priming the pump for big consulting contracts.

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DevX101
I read the report. I think they had the big ideas right, but the
quantification of the opportunity was a bit hand wavey.

The biggest chunk of that $300 billion was clinical operations, which they
said would lead to a $165 Billion savings. They never explained HOW they came
up with this $165 billion number, they just asserted it. This category would
include things like an IBM Watson helping doctors to diagnose patients, or
automated programs to help avoid adverse reactions when the doctor prescribes
a drug that he shouldn't have.

As important as I think these technologies are, I highly doubt they'll be
reducing healthcare expenditure in the U.S. by $165 billion.

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loeg
"Source: EMC"

(EMC sells "Big Data" storage.)

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mberning
My thoughts exactly. "Big Data" gets a lot of lip service from hardware and
software vendors, but for the most part they are pushing solutions to problems
that 99.9% of people do not have. Most shops can't even get a basic data
warehouse and BI tool up and running AND have their customers/users be happy
with the solution. The idea that those same teams now need to start using
special tools to analyze their 'big data' and hire data engineers/data
scientists to do it is absurd.

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thematt
I agree completely. However, I also think that those shops that _do_ choose to
parse and interpret massive amounts of data in new ways will have decisive
advantages over those that don't.

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zeratul
I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by "big data". I'm full of
hope that they don't mean "big storage" or "big hard drives filled with big
bytes".

The data by it self does not have any value. Maybe some need to store data
just for legal purposes. If ever sued they can show the records. The value
comes from summarizing the data into something that you can use it for making
decisions. So my hope is that media are really saying: " _there will be a lot
of data to analyze - start practicing now._ "

~~~
Helianthus
It seems to be a confusing comparison to Big Oil or Big Pharma etc.

In other words, it's a buzzphrase coined by people who appreciate catchiness
over actual meaning: the people who are a few layers removed from making
important decisions and have little else to do but talk incessantly about an
obvious trend.

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tybris
Big Data, yes. Big Conclusions, no.

