A Match Made in Technology Heaven: Big Data and the Cloud

tech heavenIf you are plugged into the world of tech, you are probably familiar with Big Data.. Similarly, you are likely no stranger to the Cloud. While these two seemingly different areas both pertain to EMC and data protection, you may not yet understand how they come together.

A few weeks ago, Alyson gave you a play-by-play of how Big Data is all about addressing the 3 V’s- volume, velocity, and variety- to manage and protect the rapidly growing and diverse data sets for your business. Cloud, on the other hand, focuses on On-Demand, Elastic, Scalable, Pay-Per-Use Self Service models.  At first glance, it may seem that the two are set in silos. But with a closer look, we can see where they merge. Let’s dig deeper into this relationship and the types of benefits you can gain by leveraging both Big Data and cloud technologies.

Lowers Costs
Big Data and Cloud deliver value to the enterprise by lowering the total cost of ownership. Cloud does so by the pay-per-use model turning CAPEX to OPEX while bringing down the licensing cost. For Big Data, its early adopters have moved away from traditional licensing models to a more open-source model. On the whole, this lowers total cost per terabyte processing. With Big Data and Cloud both leveraging open-source technology, they are able to drive down costs and deliver great value to the enterprise.

Decreases Complexity
Take massive amounts of data and add a seemingly abstract infrastructure. Sounds complex, right? Not anymore! A commonality of Big Data and the Cloud is the idea of simplification. Cloud has used the “as-a-service” model to hide the complexity involved in building a scalable elastic self-service application. Similarly, Big Data hides the complexity of the large scale distributed processing from the end user perspective. By turning seemingly complex problems into easily solved, scalable solutions, Cloud and Big Data are beginning to experience mass adoption.

Eases Security Risks
Risky business is a common theme surrounding Big Data and Cloud, and no, I’m not talking about the movie. The Cloud’s security reputation has been questioned, but private cloud has alleviated some of that concern. Big Data, on the other hand, gives way to an immediate security concern. So much data, can we protect it all? With both concepts, security risks are apparent and the thought of marrying the two could be potentially scary. However, innovative solutions, such as Elastic Scalable Private Clouds, address and ease potential security risks.

Big Data and the Cloud were built for different purposes, but massive data growth and the adoption of the third platform demand the two to join forces. While their match may not be technically sound just yet, their relationship is in full bloom.

About the Author: Meredith Soper