For the week of May 23rd, 2012:

• Oracle Releases New Desktop Virtualization Portfolio Updates
• Real-Time Data Isn’t Reality (yet)
• What is Big Data?

“IOUG Podcast 23-MAY-2012: Desktop Virtualization Portfolio Updates / Real-Time Data / Big Data”

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Oracle Releases New Desktop Virtualization Portfolio Updates

Oracle has introduced new desktop virtualization software, including new releases of three products. The new product versions are Oracle Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.4, Sun Ray Software 5.3 and Oracle Virtual Desktop Client 3.1.

These desktop virtualization solutions enable organizations to provision access for employees to personal desktop computing environments, enterprise applications, and data without being tied to a particular physical client device. The benefits of this approach include user mobility, data security, and enhanced centralized administration – all being key issues for organizations involved in the public sector, healthcare field, financial sector, and call center operations, where centralized control is important for compliance and security reasons. Key product enhancements include enabling expanded storage options, enhanced high definition multimedia for a richer user experience, as well as strengthened security.

Oracle VDI 3.4 enables support for local storage and third-party storage solutions and includes the new Global VDI Centers allowing the creation of multiple, independently administered VDI deployments that automatically direct users to the proper server group on login.

Sun Ray and VDC customers will see improvements to multimedia acceleration including acceleration of Adobe Flash and Windows Media Player on Sun Ray devices, and 720p high-definition video support on Sun Ray Plus and VDC workstations.

Security improvements on Sun Ray systems now include 802.1X support to allow matching of the network address of the device to the identity of the user prior to granting access.

New user location awareness features include follow-me cloud printing and auto-resizing features automatically adapting the user’s virtual display size when moving between devices. Visit oracle.com for more details on these updates.

Why Real-Time Data Isn’t A Reality (Yet)

Despite IT industry talk about the need for “real-time data,” a new survey conducted by Unisphere Research of more than 330 data managers and professionals reveals that access to current data to support decision making is not actually possible for many companies. At least half of the companies represented in the survey indicate that relevant data still takes 24 hours or longer to reach decision makers.

To compete effectively, organizations need the right information, at the right time. However, there is no one single source for relevant data and enterprises typically have a vast array of data types and formats flowing in from their own systems and databases, as well as from external sources.  Organizations are still bound to traditional, closed, or siloed, data management environments, thus impeding their ability to bring analytic capabilities to decision makers that need it. As a result, most companies cannot yet be considered data-driven organizations.

Half of the sites surveyed deliver data within 24 hours of the initial creation, but half take longer. Almost a third of respondents agree that users want to see data closer to real time. However, funding to make this possible remains an obstacle, as well as concern about the quality of such data. Among the survey’s key findings are that companies now manage massive data stores, scaling into the hundreds of terabytes. However, moving this data to where it is needed is a challenge in many organizations and 51% of respondents say they move only a fraction of the total data between systems and users on a daily basis.

Relational databases and data warehouses still lead as the primary platforms by which analytical data is delivered. However, high-volume data sites are shifting from relational databases and data warehouses to newer types of solutions, such as appliances and data virtualization to move data faster and more seamlessly. Respondents also recognize the advantages cloud computing can bring to real-time data integration, and many efforts are now underway, mainly with private or hybrid cloud-based services. The full  2012 Survey on Data Integration Strategies is available for download from Attunity.com.

What Is Big Data?

What is Big Data? As excerpted from a DBTA article by James G. Barr, a leading business continuity analyst and business writer, the term “big data” refers to the massive amounts of data being generated on a daily basis by businesses and consumers alike – data which cannot be processed using conventional data analysis tools owing to its sheer size and, in many cases, its unstructured nature. Convinced that such data holds the key to improved productivity and profitability, enterprise planners are searching for tools capable of processing big data, and information technology providers are scrambling to develop solutions to accommodate new big data market opportunities.

So how big is Big Data? In 2010 the McKinsey Global Institute estimated “that enterprises globally stored more than 7 exabytes of new data on disk drives, while consumers stored more than 6 exabytes of new data on devices such as PCs and notebooks.” A single exabyte of data is roughly 4,000 times the total information stored in the U.S. Library of Congress. We are generating so much data today that it is physically impossible to store it all. Health care providers, for instance, discard 90 percent of the data that they generate (e.g., almost all real-time video feeds created during surgery).”

IBM, which is working on its own big data platform, believes that big data spans three dimensions: volume, velocity, and variety.

Volume is just that. Can your organization:

• Turn 12 terabytes of Tweets created daily into improved product sentiment analysis?
• Convert 350 billion meter readings per year to better predict power consumption trends?

Velocity or speed. For time-sensitive processes such as catching fraud, big data must be used as it streams into the enterprise in order to maximize its value. Could you:

• Scrutinize 5 million trade events per day to identify potential fraud?
• Analyze 500 million call detail records per day in real-time to predict customer churn faster?

Variety – Big data is any type of data – structured and unstructured data such as text, sensor data, audio, video, click streams, log files, and more. How would you:

• Use hundreds of live video feeds from surveillance cameras to monitor points of interest?
• Take advantage of the 80 percent data growth in images, video, and document sharing to improve customer satisfaction?

These are questions which big data vendors like IBM are trying to answer. You can read the entire article by visiting dbta.com and search for: What is Big Data? A Market Overview