But you may be wondering what is it?

And why should I care?

For starters, big data is, well, big.

Data has been getting bigger for a while now.

From the dawn of time to less than a decade ago, mankind generated about 5 exabytes of data.

In 2012, global data will grow to 2.7 zettabytes.

That's five hundred times more data than all data ever generated prior to 2003.

And it's gonna grow three times bigger than that by 2015.

One of the big reasons the data is getting bigger

is that it's continuously being generated from more sources and more devices

and much of that data like videos, photos, comments, and social media forums, reviews on websites, and so on is unstructured.

That means the data isn't stored within structured predefined tables.

Instead, it's often made of volumes of text, dates, numbers,

and facts that are typically free form by nature.

Certain data sources are arriving so fast that not even time to store it before applying analytics to it.

And that's why traditional data management and analytics tools alone don't enable IT to store, manage, process, and analyze big data.

So, we could just ignore big data?

After all, is it worth the effort?

Turns out, it is.

A recent Gartner study concluded only ten to fifteen percent of organizations will take full advantage of big data.

But those they do will out-perform their unprepared competitors by 20 percent across major financial metrics.

And that's, you guessed it, big.

But in order to generate that level-up insight and competitive advantage from big data,

innovative new approaches and technologies are required

because the big data you're looking at is like a mountain

and you're trying to uncover those tiny.

But game changing, competitors' macking, golden nugget of insight and knowledge

that transform how effectively you do business.

Imagine a logistics company mining data on truck pickup and delivery schedules and real time traffic patterns.

The data they're using combines real time GPS beat from trucks, public traffic pattern data,

RFID data from cargo that has been picked up or dropped off and other sources.

Now, imagine they get a call for a new pickup.

Which truck should they send?

The closest one, right?

What if the route for the closest truck has a heavy traffic jam?

Or what if the cargo loaded on that truck doesn't allow space for the new pickup?

Or maybe the route for that truck involves a series of steep grade changes?

In those cases, the closest choice may not be the best choice

It might be more costly, less efficient, or unable to even service the customer's needs.

But the only way to arrive at the optimal decision is to analyze multiple big data sources in real time.

And that's just one quick example of how big data can make a big impact on the company's bottom line.

You can find out more about Big Data what it is, how to use it, and data center strategies for taking advantage of it by visiting us on the web.