Big Data: You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet

While some latecomers are just beginning to explore Big Data, and others are just now beginning

to take it seriously, early adopters are promising: you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. As to the limits of

Big Data, what we have now is just the tip of an iceberg the size of which no one is quite sure.

Today’s data sets are massive. So big, in fact, you can’t simply move them to the cloud -- at all.

They are stuck in stasis unless data science can find a way. And it better, because the demand for

higher capacity and better performing data systems is becoming a given. It’s basic human

psychology – give us something good, and we immediately want better.

That “better” is exactly what data science pioneers are working on right now. What will better

look like, how will it operate and how can they make it accessible to end users. The first step, of

course, is how to get all those massive data sets generated by constant streams of mobile usage

and other avenues into a place where the data can be parsed, cataloged, and utilized.

And that’s just step one. The next stage of Big Data, which is already well underway, is the

development of better ways to capture and use real-world, real-time data. Grabbing data from

streaming media, mobile devices and other “now” interfaces is the current golden goose in the

Big Data game. Of course, capturing all that “now” data simply exacerbates the challenge being

addressed in step one.

This leads us to step 3, the process of developing hardware and software that doesn’t exist yet to

deal with data sets that are, as yet, inconceivable. How will that infrastructure look? How will it

work and how will data scientists connect that potential to commercial viability. All these

questions are currently being studied, leading to a massive increase in demand for data scientists

and data-science-related engineers and creative developers.

Bottom line, far from going away or just another fad, Big Data is busy redefining the way both

businesses and consumers use technology today, and developing the ways it will be utilized in

the future.

Gennady Barsky is a real estate mogul who believes in the integration of business and Big Data.