Understanding the Close Relationship Between the IoT and Big Data

Understanding the Close Relationship Between the IoT and Big Data

It is sometimes necessary to talk about the big picture before that picture becomes entirely clear, even though those discussions tend to be conceptual and vague.

Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT) have been separate to date – at least in the public eye – and each covers a tremendous amount of territory. The fact is, however, that they have a deep and symbiotic relationship: The mountain of data that the IoT produces would be useless without the analytic power of Big Data. Conversely, without the IoT, Big Data would not have the raw materials from which to fashion solutions that are expected of it.

The two meet somewhere in the middle.

“The intersection is where there is a need to process, transform, and analyze large sets of data on a high frequency,” wrote Wayne Adams, the senior technologist  in the Corporate CTO Office of EMC Corporation in response to emailed questions.

The key will be finding the right strategy for harnessing the power of these two areas in a mutually beneficial way.

“There are many approaches,” wrote Ray Wang, the founder and principal analyst of Constellation Research, in response to emailed questions. “The question with the IoT is really what data you want to capture via sensors. From there, you have to figure out how to move data to information, information to insight, insight to actions so that you can augment decisions.”

A lot of money and competitive issues between companies hang in the balance. GE has just introduced Predix, a cloud-based Big Data platform aimed at industrial applications. It will rely on the IoT for much of the data it processes. “From our perspective, the industrial IoT and Big Data are inextricably linked and bound together, by Technology and economics,” indicated Vince Campisi, GE Digital’s CIO for Software and Services Technology. “There’s no law saying the IoT and Big Data must be joined at the hip, but it makes sense to see them as natural partners because you can’t operate complex machines or devices efficiently without predictive analytics and you need Big Data for the analytics.”

Arnab Chakraborty, the managing director of Accenture Analytics and Global Analytics, agreed that the “exponential increase in data” generated by the IoT makes Big Data necessary. “This is where IoT intersects wonderfully with Big Data -- Big Data capacity is, in essence, a prerequisite to tapping into the Internet of Things,” Chakraborty wrote in response to emailed questions.

Share it:
Share it:

[Social9_Share class=”s9-widget-wrapper”]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You Might Be Interested In

How to Optimize Data Reporting

13 Jul, 2017

If you’re in the business of data reporting, you know that playing to your audience is paramount. In other words, …

Read more

With better scaling, semantic technology knocks on enterprise’s door

29 Jan, 2017

Behind the newly surging interest in graph data is a rebirth of semantic technology. Semantic approaches improved upon relational methods …

Read more

5 reasons businesses are struggling with large-scale AI integration

21 Nov, 2017

Artificial intelligence is an important vehicle for companies looking to automate processes, reduce the cost of operation, or fuel innovation. …

Read more

Do You Want to Share Your Story?

Bring your insights on Data, Visualization, Innovation or Business Agility to our community. Let them learn from your experience.

Get the 3 STEPS

To Drive Analytics Adoption
And manage change

3-steps-to-drive-analytics-adoption

Get Access to Event Discounts

Switch your 7wData account from Subscriber to Event Discount Member by clicking the button below and get access to event discounts. Learn & Grow together with us in a more profitable way!

Get Access to Event Discounts

Create a 7wData account and get access to event discounts. Learn & Grow together with us in a more profitable way!

Don't miss Out!

Stay in touch and receive in depth articles, guides, news & commentary of all things data.