The Internet of Things is clearly many things: data collection and analytics, wearables, Smart Grids and Smart Cities, the Industrial Internet, and more. Cool platforms like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Intel's Galileo and Edison, and a diverse world of sensors are making the IoT a great toy box for developers in all these areas. In this Power Panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists discussed what things are the most important, which will have the most profound e...| By Alberto Pan | Article Rating: |
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| December 18, 2016 04:00 PM EST | Reads: |
2,104 |
How Data Virtualization Helps Build Self-Reliance for Information Self-Service
Information self-service is undoubtedly one of the main drivers of Modern Data Management. From "data services marketplaces" to "self-service Big Data analytics," one of the objectives of most data-related initiatives today is to provide business professionals with new ways to solve their information needs with the goals of achieving self-reliance and minimizing the IT bottleneck. However, is it realistic to expect business users to assume this job?

Studies [1] report that more than 60 percent of companies grade their experience with self-service initiatives as "average" or lower, with nearly four out of five (73 percent) claiming that "...it requires more training than expected." So, what is the problem and what can we do to solve it? Let's start with the easy part: data visualization, which is the last stage of the data analysis process. Self-service BI tools have been around for some years now, allowing business data analysts to create their own graphical reports. Although those tools are not for every business user, business analysts with data experience, basic knowledge of statistics and a bit of SQL, can use them successfully.
The problem is that these tools are only effective when users work on previously curated/integrated datasets, such as the ones we typically find in data marts and other tightly controlled data repositories. In those environments, the source data has been carefully transformed and integrated so it can be presented in a business-friendly form. Table names correspond with business entities, column names and data formats follow business conventions, and all the data has been centralized in the same place.
Even the new breed of data preparation tools has similar problems as self-service BI tools. They enable data analysts to perform some simple data transformations as a previous step to visualization, but they inherently assume that all data has been previously moved to the same repository and that the datasets are understandable for the user.
The problem with this, of course, is that only IT can create such curated, integrated repositories. While data analysts have some technical knowledge, they cannot be expected to understand the technical details of each source system, which have different data representation models (relational, NoSQL, HDFS, multidimensional, etc.), different query languages, and are suited for different types of queries. Neither can they be expected to understand technical naming conventions (e.g., SAP technical names) or specify complex connection details (e.g., Kerberos settings). In addition, their basic SQL knowledge is far from sufficient to write the complex queries and transformations required to obtain data from the original sources in business-friendly form. Moreover, in most cases the data for a report is distributed across several systems, which further complicates things.
Where does this leave self-service? As soon as the user deviates a bit from what the designers of the curated repository had in mind, we are back to the same old process. IT needs to get involved, with the added problem that now they have more users to worry about. It's no surprise that the above-mentioned report also states that among the main problems it can "...spawn more requests to IT than before."
Data virtualization (DV) provides a way out from this apparent dead end by allowing separation of IT-related integration concerns from the business-related integration ones. The key point is that it allows IT to easily create reusable, virtual data views that expose the data in business-friendly form. These virtual datasets appear to the analyst as if they came from a single system with a consistent data representation model and query language. They use business terminology instead of technical terminology, and hide the complex transformations that are needed to present data in the way in which business users are familiar. When they don't exist in the data sources, data virtualization allows the user to add metadata to these virtual views, such as adding business-friendly column descriptions and specifying the relationships between different datasets.
It's also easy to expose different logical views over the same physical data, adapted to the needs of different business units and at different levels of granularity. Because data virtualization requires no data replication, this process is much faster than using traditional data integration strategies. Without data virtualization, new physical repositories for each business unit and each desired data granularity would be required, a process well known to be slow, costly, and prone to data inconsistencies. In turn, creating new logical views with data virtualization can be made at almost negligible cost.
Finally, and with this approach, data analysts are abstracted from the changes in the underlying infrastructure. For instance, they will not notice if now the data for a report originates from Hadoop instead of the data warehouse.
To create these business-friendly views, IT manages the details of connecting to data sources, defining data transformations, and combining information from several data sources. Unlike self-service BI and data preparation tools, data virtualization tools apply sophisticated distributed query execution techniques to ensure optimal performance even when dealing with very large data sets distributed across several data sources (see my posts at datavirtualizationblog.com for details).
Data virtualization also provides IT with a single, entry point for monitoring usage, and for creating virtual "trust domains" to apply different security and governance rules for different types of users. For example, data analysts performing an exploratory job for their own use can benefit from "light" governance rules, while shared reports go through a "hard" governance process. Notice that governance is key to avoid another of the key problems mentioned in the above report: "report chaos", which consists in different business users having supposedly similar reports which, in practice, offer different results.
Data virtualization also provides a single-entry point to establish workload management policies to set limits in resource usage. For example, IT may want to set limits on the number of requests that a certain business unit can make against a certain data source.
Data virtualization not only helps IT, it also makes it easier for data analysts to search and discover data. Best-of-breed DV tools allow browsing of all datasets and their relationships, and provide a Google-like interface to search both data and metadata across all the data sets.
The capability of creating different logical views over the same data is also crucial for enabling iterative processes. Using data virtualization, the cost of iterating over several versions of a report is very low. This also changes the interaction with IT when a new component gains enough usage to be worth "operationalizing," or when we need a new business-friendly view to be added. In this instance, instead of sending a written request, the analyst can share a prototype of the desired new component.
In summary, data virtualization can act as the bridge between IT and business by providing a common language for both groups, enabling an effective division of work where each group focuses on its core functions, and making it easier for them to collaborate. DV also allows IT to monitor and govern the process, avoid chaos and provide help when needed.

The World's Largest "Cloud Digital Transformation" Event
@CloudExpo / @ThingsExpo 2017 New York
(June 6-8, 2017, Javits Center, Manhattan)
@CloudExpo / @ThingsExpo 2017 Silicon Valley
(Oct. 31 - Nov. 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)
Full Conference Registration Gold Pass and Exhibit Hall ▸ Here
Register For @CloudExpo ▸ Here via EventBrite
Register For @ThingsExpo ▸ Here via EventBrite
Register For @DevOpsSummit ▸ Here via EventBrite

Sponsorship Opportunities
Sponsors of Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:
- Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers
- Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
- Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35 minute technical session
- Online targeted advertising in SYS-CON's i-Technology Publications
- Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage
- Unprecedented Marketing Coverage: Editorial Coverage on ITweetup to over 100,000 plus followers, press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts
For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez (@GonzalezCarmen) today by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.
Secrets of Sponsors and Exhibitors ▸ Here
Secrets of Cloud Expo Speakers ▸ Here
All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices - computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors - connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades.
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.

Track 1. FinTech
Track 2. Enterprise Cloud | Digital Transformation
Track 3. DevOps, Containers & Microservices
Track 4. Big Data | Analytics
Track 5. Industrial IoT
Track 6. IoT Dev & Deploy | Mobility
Track 7. APIs | Cloud Security
Track 8. AI | ML | DL | Cognitive Computing
Delegates to Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo will be able to attend 8 simultaneous, information-packed education tracks.
There are over 120 breakout sessions in all, with Keynotes, General Sessions, and Power Panels adding to three days of incredibly rich presentations and content.
Join Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo conference chair Roger Strukhoff (@IoT2040), June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA for three days of intense Enterprise Cloud and 'Digital Transformation' discussion and focus, including Big Data's indispensable role in IoT, Smart Grids and (IIoT) Industrial Internet of Things, Wearables and Consumer IoT, as well as (new) Digital Transformation in Vertical Markets.

Financial Technology - or FinTech - Is Now Part of the @CloudExpo Program!
Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 20th Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA will find fresh new content in a new track called FinTech, which will incorporate machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and blockchain into one track.
Financial enterprises in New York City, London, Singapore, and other world financial capitals are embracing a new generation of smart, automated FinTech that eliminates many cumbersome, slow, and expensive intermediate processes from their businesses.
FinTech brings efficiency as well as the ability to deliver new services and a much improved customer experience throughout the global financial services industry. FinTech is a natural fit with cloud computing, as new services are quickly developed, deployed, and scaled on public, private, and hybrid clouds.
More than US$20 billion in venture capital is being invested in FinTech this year. @CloudExpo is pleased to bring you the latest FinTech developments as an integral part of our program, starting at the 20th International Cloud Expo June 6-8, 2017 in New York City and October 31 - November 2, 2017 in Silicon Valley.
@CloudExpo is accepting submissions for this new track, so please visit www.CloudComputingExpo.com for the latest information.
Speaking Opportunities
The upcoming 20th International @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA announces that its Call For Papers for speaking opportunities is open.
Submit your speaking proposal today! ▸ Here
Our Top 100 Sponsors and the Leading "Digital Transformation" Companies
(ISC)2, 24Notion (Bronze Sponsor), 910Telecom, Accelertite (Gold Sponsor), Addteq, Adobe (Bronze Sponsor), Aeroybyte, Alert Logic, Anexia, AppNeta, Avere Systems, BMC Software (Silver Sponsor), Bsquare Corporation (Silver Sponsor), BZ Media (Media Sponsor), Catchpoint Systems (Silver Sponsor), CDS Global Cloud, Cemware, Chetu Inc., China Unicom, Cloud Raxak, CloudBerry (Media Sponsor), Cloudbric, Coalfire Systems, CollabNet, Inc. (Silver Sponsor), Column Technologies, Commvault (Bronze Sponsor), Connect2.me, ContentMX (Bronze Sponsor), CrowdReviews (Media Sponsor) CyberTrend (Media Sponsor), DataCenterDynamics (Media Sponsor), Delaplex, DICE (Bronze Sponsor), EastBanc Technologies, eCube Systems, Embotics, Enzu Inc., Ericsson (Gold Sponsor), FalconStor, Formation Data Systems, Fusion, Hanu Software, HGST, Inc. (Bronze Sponsor), Hitrons Solutions, IBM BlueBox, IBM Bluemix, IBM Cloud (Platinum Sponsor), IBM Cloud Data Services/Cloudant (Platinum Sponsor), IBM DevOps (Platinum Sponsor), iDevices, Industrial Internet of Things Consortium (Association Sponsor), Impinger Technologies, Interface Masters, Intel (Keynote Sponsor), Interoute (Bronze Sponsor), IQP Corporation, Isomorphic Software, Japan IoT Consortium, Kintone Corporation (Bronze Sponsor), LeaseWeb USA, LinearHub, MangoApps, MathFreeOn, Men & Mice, MobiDev, New Relic, Inc. (Bronze Sponsor), New York Times, Niagara Networks, Numerex, NVIDIA Corporation (AI Session Sponsor), Object Management Group (Association Sponsor), On The Avenue Marketing, Oracle MySQL, Peak10, Inc., Penta Security, Plasma Corporation, Pulzze Systems, Pythian (Bronze Sponsor), Cosmos, RackN, ReadyTalk (Silver Sponsor), Roma Software, Roundee.io, Secure Channels Inc., SD Times (Media Sponsor), SoftLayer (Platinum Sponsor), SoftNet Solutions, Solinea Inc., SpeedyCloud, SSLGURU LLC, StarNet, Stratoscale, Streamliner, SuperAdmins, TechTarget (Media Sponsor), TelecomReseller (Media Sponsor), Tintri (Welcome Reception Sponsor), TMCnet (Media Sponsor), Transparent Cloud Computing Consortium, Veeam, Venafi, Violin Memory, VAI Software, Zerto
About SYS-CON Media & Events
SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com) has since 1994 been connecting technology companies and customers through a comprehensive content stream - featuring over forty focused subject areas, from Cloud Computing to Web Security - interwoven with market-leading full-scale conferences produced by SYS-CON Events. The company's internationally recognized brands include among others Cloud Expo® (@CloudExpo), Big Data Expo® (@BigDataExpo), DevOps Summit (@DevOpsSummit), @ThingsExpo® (@ThingsExpo), Containers Expo (@ContainersExpo) and Microservices Expo (@MicroservicesE).
Cloud Expo®, Big Data Expo® and @ThingsExpo® are registered trademarks of Cloud Expo, Inc., a SYS-CON Events company.
Published December 18, 2016 Reads 2,104
Copyright © 2016 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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Alberto Pan is Chief Technical Officer at Denodo and Associate Professor at University of A Coruña. He leads Product Development tasks for all versions of the Denodo Platform. He has authored more than 25 scientific papers in areas such as data virtualization, data integration and web automation.
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SYS-CON Events announced today that Hitachi, the leading provider the Internet of Things and Digital Transformation, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., offers an integrated portfolio of services and solutions that enable digital transformation through enhanced data management, governance, mobility and analytics. We help globa...
The explosion of new web/cloud/IoT-based applications and the data they generate are transforming our world right before our eyes. In this rush to adopt these new technologies, organizations are often ignoring fundamental questions concerning who owns the data and failing to ask for permission to conduct invasive surveillance of their customers. Organizations that are not transparent about how their systems gather data telemetry without offering shared data ownership risk product rejection, regu...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that SoftLayer, an IBM Company, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York, New York. SoftLayer, an IBM Company, provides cloud infrastructure as a service from a growing number of data centers and network points of presence around the world. SoftLayer’s customers range from Web startups to global enterprises.
Multiple data types are pouring into IoT deployments. Data is coming in small packages as well as enormous files and data streams of many sizes. Widespread use of mobile devices adds to the total. In this power panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists will look at the tools and environments that are being put to use in IoT deployments, as well as the team skills a modern enterprise IT shop needs to keep things running, get a handle on all this data, and deli...
20th Cloud Expo, taking place June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday's debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in compute, storage and networking technologies, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced server Building Block Solutions® for Data Center, Cloud Computing, Enterprise IT, Hadoop/...
Amazon has gradually rolled out parts of its IoT offerings in the last year, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to optimizing their back-end AWS offerings, Amazon is laying the ground work to be a major force in IoT – especially in the connected home and office.
Amazon is extending its reach by building on its dominant Cloud IoT platform, its Dash Button strategy, recently announced Replenishment Services, the Echo/Alexa voice recognition control platform, the 6-7 strategic...
Bert Loomis was a visionary. This general session will highlight how Bert Loomis and people like him inspire us to build great things with small inventions. In their general session at 19th Cloud Expo, Harold Hannon, Architect at IBM Bluemix, and Michael O'Neill, Strategic Business Development at Nvidia, discussed the accelerating pace of AI development and how IBM Cloud and NVIDIA are partnering to bring AI capabilities to "every day," on-demand. They also reviewed two "free infrastructure" pr...
Judith Hurwitz is president and CEO of Hurwitz & Associates, a Needham, Mass., research and consulting firm focused on emerging technology, including big data, cognitive computing and governance. She is co-author of the book Cognitive Computing and Big Data Analytics, published in 2015. Her Cloud Expo session, "What Is the Business Imperative for Cognitive Computing?" is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, at 8:40 a.m. In it, she puts cognitive computing into perspective with its value to the busin...
Cognitive Computing is becoming the foundation for a new generation of solutions that have the potential to transform business. Unlike traditional approaches to building solutions, a cognitive computing approach allows the data to help determine the way applications are designed. This contrasts with conventional software development that begins with defining logic based on the current way a business operates.
In her session at 18th Cloud Expo, Judith S. Hurwitz, President and CEO of Hurwitz & ...
SYS-CON Events announced today that Interoute, owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Interoute is the owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform which encompasses 12 data centers, 14 virtual data centers and 31 colocation centers, with connections to 195 add...
The age of Digital Disruption is evolving into the next era – Digital Cohesion, an age in which applications securely self-assemble and deliver predictive services that continuously adapt to user behavior. Information from devices, sensors and applications around us will drive services seamlessly across mobile and fixed devices/infrastructure. This evolution is happening now in software defined services and secure networking. Four key drivers – Performance, Economics, Interoperability and Trust ...
Grape Up is a software company, specialized in cloud native application development and professional services related to Cloud Foundry PaaS. With five expert teams that operate in various sectors of the market across the USA and Europe, we work with a variety of customers from emerging startups to Fortune 1000 companies.
Cybersecurity is a critical component of software development in many industries including medical devices. However, code is not always written to be robust or secure from the unknown or the unexpected. This gap can make medical devices susceptible to cybersecurity attacks ranging from compromised personal health information to life-sustaining treatment. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Clark Fortney, Software Engineer at Battelle, will discuss how programming oversight using key methods can incre...
Whether you are an owner of a thriving small business or a decision maker at an established enterprise, you cannot ignore digital technology. Businesses worldwide are going digital to deliver compelling experiences to customers, which is becoming a key differentiating factor. The rise of social and mobile have increased the discoverability of businesses. Consumers are
Wouldn’t it be great if there were tiny robots that kept track of what you were thinking, then helped you implement your plans automatically? Well, if you’re an admin responsible for monitoring infrastructure, they exist. They’re called chatbots, and they are the key to leveraging ChatOps in order to optimize your monitoring and incident management workflow. This post explains what chatbots and ChatOps do and why they're so valuable for organizations that are adopting DevOps practices.
This term Data Unification is new in the Big Data lexicon, pushed by varieties of companies such as Talend, 1010Data, and TamR. Data unification deals with the domain known as ETL (Extraction, Transformation, Loading), initiated during the 1990s when Data Warehousing was gaining relevance. ETL refers to the process of extracting data from inside or outside sources (multiple applications typically developed and supported by different vendors or hosted on separate hardware), transform it to fit operational needs (based on business rules), and load it into end target databases, more specifically,...
When executing an effective digital transformation strategy, management is tasked with placing the right workload into the most appropriate IT environment. This represents a shift from buying parts for self-assembly to composing services through self-serve consumption and pay-per-use models. Quite often this transition also leads to the adoption of software defined environments across the enterprise infrastructure.
Analysts estimate that by 2030, self-driving cars and trucks (autonomous vehicles) could account for as much as 60 percent of US auto sales. That’s great! But autonomous vehicles are basically computers on wheels, and computers crash all the time. Besides that, computers get hacked every day. So you gotta ask, “Can self-driving cars ever really be safe?”
No. Self-driving cars can never really be safe. They will be safer! So much safer that it’s worth a few minutes to understand why.
Many people mistakenly believe that Al Gore invented the Internet, but in reality it was Tim Berners-Lee. He created URIs, HTTP, HTML, and the first web browser - all critical building blocks that paved the way for the Internet to operate as the ubiquitous, decentralized network for sharing information that we take for granted today. As a result of his contributions to society, it was recently announced that Tim Berners-Lee has been awarded the prestigious Turing Award.
First there was the Stone Age. Then we learned how to manipulate and smelt metals, which led to an Agrarian age. From there, machines helped bring about the Industrial age, then the Space Age. So where are we now? Shall we call it the Network Age? Metcalfe’s Law holds that the value of a connected network, telecommunications in the parlance of his day, is proportional to the square of the number of connected users. Or stated more simply, the utility of a connected ‘thing’ increases as more and more ‘things’ are connected. The telephone acts as an easy example. One phone by itself is a paperwei...
[Opening Scene]: Billy Dean is pacing the office. He’s struggling to keep his delivery trucks at full capacity and on the road. Random breakdowns, unexpected employee absences, and unscheduled truck maintenance are impacting bookings, revenues and ultimately customer satisfaction. He keeps hearing from his business customers how they are leveraging data science to improve their business operations. Billy Dean starts to wonder if data science can help him. As he contemplates what data science can do for him, he slowly drifts off to sleep, and visions of Data Science starts dancing in his head…...
Artificial Intelligence is the discipline of thinking machines. The field is growing dramatically with the proliferation of high powered computers into homes and businesses and especially with the growing power of smartphones and other mobile devices. Artificial intelligence software is assisting people in most every discipline. The many functions of AI are considered by many to be threatening many human jobs across multiple industries, but others consider it a great producer of jobs since it will help create entirely new industries and free more humans to innovate and create.
Cloud usage continues to gain momentum across all industries. In a recent FutureScape: Worldwide Cloud 2017 Predictions report, IDC predicted that between 60 percent and 70 percent of all software, services and technology spending will be on the cloud by 2020.
With this increase in cloud usage comes a corresponding need for employees with cloud skills. Supply has not kept pace with demand, however. The State of Cloud Readiness Study 2016 found that 53 percent of IT leaders are struggling to acquire the necessary skills to support cloud initiatives within their organizations, while almost hal...
The recent deluge of rains in Northern California have flooded streets, brought down trees and plugged storm sewers. As I was trying to make my way around the neighborhood, I thought of a classroom exercise to help my MBA students to identify the use cases upon which they could focus data and analytics. In this exercise, I’m going to ask my students to pretend that they have been hired by the city to “Optimize Street Maintenance” after these rainstorms.
The Big Bang Theory is the pre-eminent explanation for the origins of the universe. It proposes, from an explosion of atoms, the universe rapidly expanded and in doing so created everything we know. But it did so in an erratic, haphazard and unstructured way. For every life form, an infinite amount of inhospitable desolate galaxies, planets and black holes were also created.
Big Data is often associated with the birth of what is known as the Third Generation of IT and many are now at a crossroads: Do they continue down the current path, hoping to stumble upon a planet Earth as they navigate a...

























