NEW YORK, Aug. 27, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "We have entered a stimulating era of database innovation," according to a leading industry analyst, companies must rely on in-memory data analytics if they are to reap the significant benefits of "Big Data" technology, including faster time to insight. Failure to do so, he warns in a new report, could impede the results organizations can expect from this new age of information management.
The report, "Why In-Memory Technology Will Dominate Big Data: In-Memory and the New BI," is authored by The Bloor Group's principle analyst, Robin Bloor, Ph.D. The "New BI," Bloor writes, enables data scientists /data analysts to reveal greater insights that can be applied to their business through the use of advanced and predictive analytics. He says those analytics can be used to reveal knowledge to take swift advantage of a trend as it develops, enabling "companies to look for and find valuable insights into their business activities." He cites stock transactions, as well as those for web businesses, transportation, telecommunications, retail and media firms.
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"If data analysts can get results in seconds or minutes instead of hours, then they can test many more hypotheses than before – and they will. They are also more likely to consider engaging in activities they previously thought impractical, such as adding to their data sources and pursuing new analytical projects," Bloor says.
But Bloor also cautions that the continued use of traditional technology in business intelligence can negate any potential advantage, calling instead for the strategic utilization of in-memory analytics as a preferred method. "Reading from memory is more than 3,300 times faster than reading from disk," he notes. "A simple calculation would suggest that if it takes an hour to read a set of information from disk, it would take just over a second to read it from memory." A solution, he writes, is the deployment of an in-memory analytical platform, one that imports a copy of multiple terabytes of data for analysis from existing data stores, like that being stored in Hadoop implementations.
Bloor cites the Kognitio Analytical Platform as an example of how the "New BI" technology is being successfully used. Bloor notes that Kognitio optimizes all data brought into memory to be accessed on a truly random basis, instead of the block-basis querying used by traditional databases. "With a column store database, an analytical task can be thought of as a three-step process involving reading memory from disk into cache, answering the query and then applying the analytical routine to get a result. With an in-memory architecture, it is a one-step process that runs the query and the analytical calculation in parallel at a much greater speed," he writes. Kognitio, he says, is not only capable of running queries using an industry-standard SQL interface, as well as MDX for OLAP via virtual in-memory cubes. "It can also execute analytical processing, running third-party binaries embedded directly within SQL commands," he adds.
Bloor concludes that implementing in-memory analytical platforms like Kognitio can provide companies with a significant strategic advantage over their less-advanced competitors and allow them to predict future trends, rather than merely reacting to past data points. "If BI dashboards can be accurate up-to-the-second, then it may be possible to support individual decision making in the moment, rather than report 'after the fact'," he says.
A full copy of the Bloor report is available at no charge at www.kognitio.com/bloor.
About Kognitio
Kognitio is driving the convergence of Big Data, in-memory analytics and cloud computing. Having delivered the first in-memory analytical platform in 1989, it was designed from the ground up to provide the highest amount of scalable compute power to allow rapid execution of complex analytical queries without the administrative overhead of manipulating data. Kognitio software runs on industry-standard x86 servers, or as an appliance, or in Kognitio Cloud, a ready-to-use analytical platform. Kognitio Cloud is a secure, private or public cloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), leveraging the cloud computing model to make the Kognitio Analytical Platform available on a subscription basis. Clients span industries, including market research, consumer packaged goods, retail, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, gaming, media and utilities.
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About The Bloor Group
The Bloor Group provides detailed analysis of today's enterprise software industry. Co-founded by Dr. Robin Bloor and Eric Kavanagh, the company leverages Web-based multimedia to deliver vendor-neutral education that is designed to reveal the essential characteristics of information technologies. The Bloor Group galvanizes the industry's independent analysts to provide valuable insights via innovative Webcasts, research programs and white papers. More information can be found at http://www.insideanalysis.com or by calling 636.346.6351.