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How 7 companies bring power to Hadoop big data applications

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Lindsay Posted in Tech Leave a comment

How 7 companies bring power to Hadoop big data applications

Intel and Cloudera joined forces just a year ago to accelerate enterprise Hadoop adoption. Here’s how seven companies have taken advantage of new technology to drive big data.

Powering big data applications to transform business
During Intel’s Analytics Day in May, Diane Bryant, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group, and Tom O’Reilly, CEO of Hadoop distribution specialist Cloudera, celebrated the one-year anniversary of the partnership between Intel and Cloudera. That partnership is aimed at accelerating enterprise Hadoop adoption through new product enhancements and ecosystem collaborations. Here are seven examples companies using Intel processors and Cloudera’s CDH to power big data applications that are transforming their businesses.

1 caesars
Caesars Entertainment tackles marketing
Casino-entertainment company Caesars Entertainment is using a new Hadoop environment built on Cloudera CDH running on the Intel Xeon processor E5 family to identify customer segments and create specific marketing campaigns tailored to each of those segments. The new environment has reduced processing time for key jobs from about six hours to 45 minutes. This allows Caesars to run faster and more accurate data analysis to enhance customer experiences and improve security for meeting Payment Card Industry (PCI) and other standards. Caesars can now process more than 3 million records per hour.

2 cerner
Cerner helps detect potentially fatal infections
Healthcare technology company Cerner has built an enterprise data hub powered by CDH on Intel Xeon processors to create a more comprehensive view of any patient, condition or trends. The technology is helping Cerner and its clients monitor more than one million patients daily. Among other things, it is helping determine the likelihood that a patient has the potentially fatal bloodstream infection, sepsis, with a much greater accuracy than what was previously possible.

3 eharmony
eHarmony creates more personalized matches
Relationship-minded online dating site eHarmony recently upgraded its cloud environment to use CDH and the Intel Xeon processor E5 family to analyze a massive volume and variety of data. The technology is helping eHarmony deliver new matches to millions of people every day, and the new cloud environment accommodates more complex analyses to create more personalized results and improve the chances of relationship success.

4 mastercard
MasterCard powers its professional services
MasterCard was the first company to implement Cloudera’s CDH distribution of Hadoop after it received full PCI certification. The company has implemented CDH on Intel-based servers and has begun integrating Hadoop data sets with data from other environments that are already PCI-certified. MasterCard is pushing that system to its own clients via its MasterCard Advisors professional services arm.

5 farmlogs
FarmLogs helps farmers grow more
Farm management software company FarmLogs is using real-time analytics running on the Intel Xeon processor E5 family to provide 20 percent of U.S. farms with actionable data on harvest, growing conditions, vegetative health and more. It is using the technology to help farmers increase the productivity of every acre of farmland.

6 nippon paint
Nippon Paint optimizes its supply chain
Nippon Paint is one of the largest paint suppliers in Asia. It uses Intel Xeon E7 v2 processors running in SAP HANA in-memory analytics software to understand consumer behaviors, optimize its supply chain and improve its marketing campaigns. Nippon Paint is now testing the new Intel Xeon E7 v3 processor-based system to take advantage of higher performance and reliability features.

7 world wide tech
World Wide Technology powers data warehouse optimization
Systems integrator (SI) World Wide Technology has designed and integrated hardware, software and services into a single data warehouse optimization (DWO) solution intended to alleviate performance bottlenecks and allow organizations to take full advantage of their data sets. The pre-built, validated DWO appliances offloads data preparation and processing transactions to Cloudera and allows data to be captured and analyzed in its native unstructured format. The solution is built on the Intel Xeon processor E5, providing it with a validated architecture that unites compute, network, storage access and virtualization into one cohesive system.

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Cisco becomes a Big Data analytics provider with ‘mist’ computing

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Lindsay Posted in Tech Leave a comment

The latest bet for Cisco is big data analytics.

Last week, Cisco celebrated its 30th anniversary. Over the years Cisco has made many big bets to reach the dominant position it is in today. As part of the celebration, Cisco held its first ever Global Editor Conference, using the event to lay out the organization’s vision for the next big bet, and that’s becoming a big data analytics provider.

If this bet pays off, it could be huge for Cisco. CEO John Chambers has reiterated over and over that Cisco has a goal of becoming the industry’s No. 1 IT solution provider, and becoming an analytics provider is certainly another step toward achieving this goal. On Thursday, I dialed into an analyst session on this topic and, as expected, there was a fair amount of skepticism as to why any enterprise would buy analytics from Cisco.

To me, this question is like asking why anyone would buy telephony from Cisco. Or servers. Or cloud applications. The fact is, computing and big data are becoming more network-centric, so IT should care about it more. This is Cisco’s opportunity to innovate and capture share in a new market, like it has done so many times in the past. Additionally, Cisco has beefed up its services organization and data center portfolio to help its customers consume these technologies, a key to all IT vendors today.
See also: 30 years of Cisco: The networking giant’s boldest predictions over the years

Cisco’s differentiator is that the analytics tools won’t just be located in the core or edge of a network. Cisco will be pushing analytics all the way out to the extreme edge of a network by having the tools built into its network devices. If the core can be thought of as the cloud and the edge considered the fog, one could think of the extreme edge as being “mist” computing – a more dispersed version of the fog, which is a dispersed version of the cloud.

Cisco’s thesis, which I believe is correct, is that analytics is best done as close to the data as possible. Take for example a retail environment. If the store collects information on a customer and wants to analyze the data and take action, why should that data be backhauled all the way to a cloud resource thousands of miles away, or a fog resource hundreds of miles away? Even tens of miles is too far. Instead, the analytics should be done in the store. This means decisions can be made in seconds instead of hours or even days.

Cisco is calling this “Connected Analysis” for the Internet of Everything, and it’s the connectedness that gives Cisco its edge. Cisco has far more connected touch points in most businesses than any other company, and it can pull data in to be analyzed from its own networked devices (phones, cameras, collaboration endpoints, network devices, etc.) as well as sensors, mobile devices, and other third-party end points.

Cisco is going to market with Connected Analysis with packaged offerings for specific industries, such as retail, travel, or stadiums, or use cases like the ones built around collaboration or mobility.

The Internet of Things is about more than just connecting devices to a common network. The value comes from the collecting of data, analytics done on the data, and the ability to make critical decisions quickly. Cisco’s Connected Analytics strategy is targeted at making this process operate at network speeds. Success here will go a long way toward helping Cisco hit that goal of becoming the No. 1 IT vendor.

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Big Data skills pay top dollar

Posted on February 11, 2014 by Lindsay Posted in Tech

Mastering Big Data languages, databases and skills could be the ticket to a bigger paycheck

Tech salaries saw a nearly 3% bump last year, and IT pros with expertise in big data-related languages, databases and skills enjoyed some of the largest paychecks.

Average U.S. tech salaries climbed to $87,811 in 2013, up from $85,619 the previous year, according to Dice’s newly released 2013-2014 Salary Survey. Significantly, nine of the top 10 highest paying IT salaries are for skills related to big data, says the tech career site.

+ALSO ON NETWORKWORLD: 12 jobs getting the biggest raises in 2014 | Inside CIO paychecks | Big data’s biggest challenges+

At the top of the list is R, a software environment for statistical computing and graphics. Here’s the full list of the top 10 highest paying IT salaries:

1. R: $115,531
2. NoSQL: $114,796
3. MapReduce: $114,396
4. PMBok: $112,382
5. Cassandra: $112,382
6. Omnigraffle: $111,039
7. Pig: $109,561
8. Service Oriented Architecture: $108,997
9. Hadoop: $108,669
10. Mongo DB: $107,825

“Companies are betting big that harnessing data can play a major role in their competitive plans, and that is leading to high pay for critical skills,” said Shravan Goli, president of Dice, in a statement. “Technology professionals should be volunteering for big data projects, which makes them more valuable to their current employer and more marketable to other employers.”
salary

Among all respondents, 34% of tech pros received a bonus as part of their 2013 compensation, and average bonuses totaled $9,323.

Silicon Valley tops the list of highest paid metropolitan areas when it comes to tech talent, with an average annual salary of $108,603 and an average annual bonus of $12,458.

When asked if they are satisfied with their salaries, respondents were divided. Nearly half were either very satisfied (17%) or somewhat satisfied (37%). Some were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied (16%). At the other extreme, respondents were somewhat dissatisfied (20%) and very dissatisfied (10%).

A majority of IT pros (65%) told Dice they’re confident they could find a new, better position.

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Cisco and NetApp tackle Hadoop

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Lindsay Posted in Cisco Leave a comment

Companies offer integrated FlexPod server, storage, switching architecture for big data

Cisco and NetApp this week expanded their FlexPod storage and switching portfolio with a new design for big data workloads.

FlexPod Select is a new offering from the companies that is designed for data intensive workloads. It joins the existing and renamed FlexPod Datacenter – formerly FlexPod – for enterprise cores and services providers, and FlexPod Express – formerly ExpressPod – for smaller enterprises and branch offices.

FlexPod is designed to integrate NetApp storage, Cisco networking, and applications and analytics into an automated system that lowers operational expense. FlexPod Select targets high-performance application workloads and will initially address Hadoop big data applications in financial services, government and retail manufacturing.

FlexPod Select combines NetApp E-Series and FAS storage systems, Cisco UCS C-Series servers, Nexus switches and management software, and Hadoop analytics. Two Hadoop configurations will be validated by the companies for storage, compute, connectivity and management: Cloudera’s Distribution including Apache Hadoop; and Hortonworks Data Platform.

Cisco and NetApp also broadened the current FlexPod Datacenter and Express offerings. FlexPod Datacenter now includes the Cisco Nexus 7000 switch for 10G density up to 768 ports, end-to-end FibreChannel-over-Ethernet, and data center interconnection. It also supports disk-to-disk-to-tape backup and recovery, and implementation guidance for VMware, NAS shares, and Microsoft Exchange.

Since its launch in 2010, FlexPod has grown to more than 2,400 customers, Cisco and NetApp say.

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Tech salaries jump 5.3%, bonuses flat

Posted on January 25, 2013 by Lindsay Posted in Tech

Tech and engineering pros reported the largest salary jump in more than a decade, according to career site Dice

Average salaries for tech pros climbed 5.3% to $85,619 last year, up from $81,327 in 2011. It’s the largest salary jump in more than a decade, according to career site Dice, which specializes in jobs for tech and engineering professionals.

Entry level talent (two years or less experience) waited three years to see an increase in average annual pay — and the market made up for the stagnancy with an 8% year-over-year increase to $46,315. At the other end of the spectrum, average salaries for tech professionals with at least 15 years of experience topped six-figures for the first time, growing 4% to $103,012.

2013 JOB WATCH: Top 11 metro areas for tech jobs

“Employers are recognizing and adjusting to the reality of a tight market,” said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice Holdings, in a statement. “The fact is you either pay to recruit or pay to retain and these days, at least for technology teams, companies are doing both.”

Tech bonuses were slightly more frequent — 33% of respondents got one in 2012 compared to 32% in 2011 — but slightly less lucrative at an average of $8,636 (down from $8,769). [Related story: “Outlook for IT bonus pay murky”]
tech salaries

“In the early stages of the recovery, companies were staying flexible by using performance pay to reward their top performers,” Melland said. “Now, companies are writing the checks that will stick. With a 3.8% tech unemployment rate, no one wants to lose talent.”

By location, Pittsburgh tech pros saw the largest salary increase, up 18% year/year to $76,207. Six other cities also reported double-digit growth in salaries — which is the most ever registered by the Dice Salary Survey.

San Diego (+13% to $97,328)
St. Louis (+13% to $81,245)
Phoenix (+12% to $83,607)
Cleveland (+11% to $75,773
Orlando (+10% to $81,583)
Milwaukee (+10% to $81,670)

Silicon Valley remains the only market where tech professionals average six-figure salaries ($101,278).

Across the U.S., big data skills are in demand, as evidenced by $100,000+ salaries for tech pros who use Hadoop, NoSQL and MongoDB. By comparison, average salaries associated with cloud and virtualization are just under $90,000 and mobile salaries are closer to $80,000, Dice reports.

“We’ve heard it’s a fad, heard it’s hyped and heard it’s fleeting, yet it’s clear that data professionals are in demand and well paid,” said Alice Hill, managing director of Dice.com. “Tech professionals who analyze large data streams and strategically impact the overall business goals of a firm have an opportunity to write their own ticket. The message to employers? If you have a talented data team, hold on tight or learn the consequences of a lift-out.”

Looking ahead to the current year, 64% of tech professionals are confident they could find a favorable new job in 2013.

Dice surveyed 15,049 employed tech professionals between Sept. 24 and Nov. 16, 2012, for its annual Salary Survey.

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Cisco, EMC, VMware unite behind big data, cloud training initiative

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Lindsay Posted in Cisco, Jobs, Tech

New training bundles are organized around specific disciplines and job roles, including cloud architect and data scientist

As the IT silos come down, tech pros need to beef up their skills to stay relevant and maximize the business benefits of cloud computing, virtualization, unified networking and big data, according to Cisco and EMC, which have teamed to offer training targeted at tech’s hottest data center disciplines.

IT JOB SPOTTING: Top 20 metro areas for tech jobs
New job roles are emerging as companies adopt converged infrastructures, shift to cloud architectures, and wrangle with massive data stores, and enterprises need to prepare the IT workforce to handle their new roles, the vendors say.

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“There’s some confusion around cloud, cloud-based services, and how to leverage the cloud as part of an overall organizational transformation. How do you move from classical data centers to virtual data centers to cloud-based data centers?” says Anthony Bryant, director of learning services at Learning@Cisco. “There’s also confusion around how to transform the technical talent within this arena.”

Unveiled this week, the training initiative from Cisco and EMC also includes resources from VMware. Their joint education bundles provide courseware and certifications related to cloud architecture, virtualization, storage, data center networking and data science. The bundles are organized around specific disciplines and job roles, including cloud architect, systems administrator, backup and recovery, data center network design and data scientist.

“The lines between the traditional silos, or pillars, in IT are starting to blur” in today’s IT-as-a-service, cloud-based data center environments, says Alok Shrivastava, senior director of education services at EMC. “They have to, because one group or one function making a decision impacts everybody else,” he says. “You might be a system admin or DBA or network admin, and you need to understand what’s going on across the different technology areas in the data center.”

In the Cisco/EMC/VMware training model, there’s a path associated with each discipline that prescribes the required courses to become proficient. For instance, the systems administrator path requires these courses: Cloud Infrastructure and Services, VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage, and Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Implementation (DCUCI). Someone aspiring to be a data center network architect could follow a learning path that includes these courses: EMC Cloud Infrastructure and Services, Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric (DCUFD), and Configuring Cisco Nexus Data Center (CCNDC).

IT pros can opt to purchase courses by the bundle or individually. The training is delivered via instructor-led courses, instructor-led video training, or, in certain cases, on-site instruction at a customer premises.

From the perspective of a CIO of a 1,000-person IT organization, “the success of cloud transformation depends on the team. Beyond the technologies, unless the team has bought into it and has developed new skill sets, the project could very well fail,” Shrivastava says. “It becomes extremely critical for CIOs to transform the workforce.”