Enterprise adoption of big data still 'embryonic'
LAS VEGAS--Big data is currently only utilized by "early adopters" but the industry will mature as more companies value information as an asset that will boost revenues and reputation, according to a Hewlett-Packard (HP) executive.
Rafiq Mohammadi, CEO of Autonomy Promote at HP, which helps businesses understand and act on all forms of information for their marketing efforts, acknowledged that the current big data technology is neither new nor unsophisticated. However, the movement among enterprises to embrace the technology is "nascent and embryonic", he added.
Elaborating, he told ZDNet Asia during an interview at the HP Discover conference held here on Tuesday that if one follows the hype cycle, big data adoption remains in the early adopters demographic and yet to reach the "pragmatic buyers" group.
As such, there is still plenty more room for figuring out ways of utilizing big data analyses for business use, which is limited only by human imagination, Mohammadi stated.
The executive added that big data, which includes not just unstructured but also machine- or sensor-based data, is a robust growth market. Companies are increasingly recognizing that information is a resource and, when used properly, can bring them advantages be it "revenue, loyalty, or data and company security and reputation", the CEO noted.
The IT vendor also announced several tools and services targeting this market during the conference. These include consulting services such as HP Big Data Strategy workshop and HP Roadmap service for Hadoop as well as an update Vertica 6 analytics platform and cloud-based tools to embed Autonomy''s Intelligent Data Operating Layer (Idol) analytic capabilities into Hadoop nodes, the company revealed.
Asked how important Hadoop is to HP's big data strategy, Mohammadi said it is a "very good standard" and, being an open source technology, invites vendors such as itself to "plug into the framework".
The executive also believed that the company's ability to offer cloud storage and computing, data analytics, and HP Labs' research and development meant that it is making a "very strong claim" on the big data market.
Jamie Yap of ZDNet Asia reported from HP Discover 2012 in Las Vegas, United States.