Making Data Simple

Cloud, mobile, security, analytics and big data are all significant issues for IT organizations, and the landscape of each issue is rapidly evolving. While it’s difficult for organizations of all sizes to keep up with the changes, it’s especially challenging for small and midsize companies. Brian Beals and Steve Cavolick join us from Sirius Computer Solutions, an IT solutions integrator that provides infrastructure and software consulting and services. Brian and Steve shared some of their knowledge about how SMBs are approaching and solving these IT challenges.

Cloud, mobile, security, analytics and big data are all significant issues for IT organizations, and the landscape of each issue is rapidly evolving. While it’s difficult for organizations of all sizes to keep up with the changes, it’s especially challenging for small and midsize companies. Brian Beals and Steve Cavolick join us from Sirius Computer Solutions, an IT solutions integrator that provides infrastructure and software consulting and services. Brian and Steve shared some of their knowledge about how SMBs are approaching and solving these IT challenges.

If you take a quick glance at any technology publication (and many business publications as well) you will likely see some reference to real-time. There’s real-time customer service, real-time marketing, real-time analytics and the list goes on. But what does real time mean? Is there a standard definition? Should there be? Roger Rea, product manager for IBM InfoSphere Streams, joined host David Pittman to share the surprisingly long history of "real-time computing," and explain how to tell if you are a juggler or a high diver when it comes to real-time analytics.

If you take a quick glance at any technology publication (and many business publications as well) you will likely see some reference to real-time. There’s real-time customer service, real-time marketing, real-time analytics and the list goes on. But what does real time mean? Is there a standard definition? Should there be? Roger Rea, product manager for IBM InfoSphere Streams, joined host David Pittman to share the surprisingly long history of "real-time computing," and explain how to tell if you are a juggler or a high diver when it comes to real-time analytics.

Today's customers demand that you know them and deal with them as individuals rather than as part of a generic market. This requires new ways of truly understanding and engaging with them, and big data technologies play a key role in this.

Today's customers demand that you know them and deal with them as individuals rather than as part of a generic market. This requires new ways of truly understanding and engaging with them, and big data technologies play a key role in this.

The relational database world has decades of research and experience optimizing SQL access and providing the needed capabilities for mission critical environments. Now, new SQL-on-Hadoop offerings are popping up, which is helping IT departments leverage their existing expertise to move into the big data world. Jennifer McGinn, product marketing manager for IBM big data, described the benefits of SQL-on-Hadoop and talked about what IBM BigInsights with its integrated Big SQL have to offer.

The relational database world has decades of research and experience optimizing SQL access and providing the needed capabilities for mission critical environments. Now, new SQL-on-Hadoop offerings are popping up, which is helping IT departments leverage their existing expertise to move into the big data world. Jennifer McGinn, product marketing manager for IBM big data, described the benefits of SQL-on-Hadoop and talked about what IBM BigInsights with its integrated Big SQL have to offer.

Conceptually, big data can be difficult for people to understand. If they can't fully understand it, then it's difficult for them to see how it fits into their strategic IT plans. To help explain the concepts behind big data and its place in IT infrastructure, IBM has developed a "Zone Architecture" built around five zones that relate to how organizations manage data and run analytics. Rick Clements, director of product marketing for IBM Big Data, described the Zone Architecture, as well as the use cases  and types of products typically used within each zone

Conceptually, big data can be difficult for people to understand. If they can't fully understand it, then it's difficult for them to see how it fits into their strategic IT plans. To help explain the concepts behind big data and its place in IT infrastructure, IBM has developed a "Zone Architecture" built around five zones that relate to how organizations manage data and run analytics. Rick Clements, director of product marketing for IBM Big Data, described the Zone Architecture, as well as the use cases  and types of products typically used within each zone

Databases have been around for decades, but suddenly there’s renewed interest in database technology. Nancy Hensley, director of marketing and strategy for databases and database systems at IBM, joined the show to explain what is happening in the industry to drive this interest. She also described recent developments such as BLU Acceleration in-memory computing and hybrid database architectures that run in the cloud and help "obliterate the wait." Hensley shared some clients that are using these faster, more agile technologies to lower costs and be more productive. 

Databases have been around for decades, but suddenly there’s renewed interest in database technology. Nancy Hensley, director of marketing and strategy for databases and database systems at IBM, joined the show to explain what is happening in the industry to drive this interest. She also described recent developments such as BLU Acceleration in-memory computing and hybrid database architectures that run in the cloud and help "obliterate the wait." Hensley shared some clients that are using these faster, more agile technologies to lower costs and be more productive. 

Some people mistakenly blame big data for failures in their results. If the outcome is bad, it must be big data’s fault, right? Wrong!

Some people mistakenly blame big data for failures in their results. If the outcome is bad, it must be big data’s fault, right? Wrong!

Cloud computing is gaining momentum, and for good reason. Some people consider it for overall IT cost savings, others are drawn to the promise of reduced capital expense and other people are looking to solve pressing IT issues. Kimberly Madia, product marketing manager for IBM big data, joined us to explain how cloud computing is enabling real-time analytics as a service, and what she sees developing in the area of “analytics everywhere.”