Several International Relations professors around the world will tell you that media is the oxygen for terrorism. They would also explain that the prime reason for this statement is that the information flow from the media can function as a signaling function for terrorists. This is the real power of information. 

What is Big Data?

This information, when it exists in huge amounts, gives people the power to make powerful insights regarding prevalent trends in the market. But information is not readily available. It has to be extracted from data that is often so jumbled that it takes skill to generate any real insights. In fact, in the coming 5 years, around 80% of the data available will be unstructured. When combined with the fact that every day approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data is processed means even greater complexity in generating insights. 

This is what Big Data basically refers to. It refers to the storage of huge amounts of data and using that data to reveal market trends. Given how elusive the concept is, Doug Laney gave one of the very first definitions of the concept in line with the three Vs. These three were:

1. Volume: the concept entails that a huge amount of data will flow through. This huge volume comes from a number of different sources including sensors, social media and so on. 
2. Velocity: The speed with which the data flows in is also very important. The velocity of data will dictate how efficiently the decisions from it could be made. 
3. Variety: several different types of data comes in, especially in terms of structured, semi-structured and unstructured. Moreover, you could further bifurcate the types of data into numeric, alpha numeric and so on. 

What Part Does a Cloud Play in Big Data?

Of course, the idea now seems relatively simple and people might even feel they are willing to learn the basics of big data. But very few people tend to think ahead and derive the connection between big data and cloud computing on their own even when the connection is in plain sight. 

What is this connection? Storage. Given the huge amounts of data that flows in in a big data cycle, the storage costs can not just be substantial but overwhelming for a business. Moreover, the considerations are not just about the costs of saving but also about the considerations of physical space. Of course, storing such huge amounts of data would require huge servers too. Then with the data flowing in constantly, there will be a constant need to update the storage. 

Instead, the easier way out is to get cloud storage for your business. Cloud storage eliminates the huge costs of acquiring physical storage and the costs of keeping that storage somewhere. Moreover, cloud storage allows for instant access and real-time collaboration on the cloud. Furthermore, it saves the cost of buying physical storage servers, of placing them in a facility and to upgrade them as cloud storage can be acquired at much lower costs than physical servers.