What is Big Data and why is it important?
Big
Data refers to extremely large data sets that can be analysed to reveal
patterns and trends.
The 3V’s of Big Data
Much of the tech industry follows Gartner’s ‘3Vs’ model to
define Big Data. Data that is high in:
Volume
Velocity
Variety
The volume of data organisations handle can progress from
megabytes through to terabytes and even petabytes. In terms of velocity, data
has gone from being handled in batches and periodically to having to be
processed in real time. The variety of data has also diversified from simple
tables and databases through to photo, web, mobile and social data, and the
most challenging: unstructured data.
How big is ‘Big Data’?
Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data – so
much, that 90% of data in the world today has been created in the last two
years alone.
When data sets get so big that they cannot be analysed by
traditional data processing application tools, it becomes known as ‘Big Data’.
As different companies
have varied ceilings on how much data they can handle, depending on their
database management tools, there is no set level where data becomes ‘big’.
This means that Big Data and analytics tend to go
hand-in-hand, as without being able to analyse the data it becomes meaningless.
Comments
Post a Comment