Our recent 16 Top Big Data Analytics Platforms collection has generated lots of interest and plenty of comments and questions. To respond to the latter, we jumped at the chance to do a Google+ Hangout with the editors of sister UBM website AllAnalytics so we could go deeper on the topic.
The questions during the discussion (see video interview below) covered many of the most frequently asked questions posted below our slide show — 21 comments and counting at this writing. How do you define big data analytics platforms or “big data” for that matter? What makes these “top” vendors, and are any of these platforms accessible to midmarket companies?
I elaborate on all these topics, but a few new questions from All Analytics editors Beth Schultz and Michael Steiner sparked good conversation and three points worth highlighting:
SQL won’t make the most of Hadoop
Many of these 16 top platform providers offer SQL-on-Hadoop options. You should keep in mind that SQL analysis against data on or from Hadoop does not offer the highest value you can gain from the platform. Organizations are embracing Hadoop to take advantage of data they couldn’t afford to keep before and, more importantly, to capture complex and variable data — clickstreams, log files, mobile data, social data, and more — that aren’t easily managed in relational database management systems (DBMSs).
