by Emil Sayegh
Big data is big business in 2015. A rapid increase in data technologies and computing power has led to more and more enterprises and small businesses around the world accumulating massive amounts of data.Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data from sensors gathering climate information, social media posts, digital media, purchase transactions, cell phone GPS signals… the list goes on and on.It’s hard to comprehend just how big that number is. Here’s an easier way to understand it: 90 percent of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. That number is only going to get bigger in the coming years.However, the reality is that building and scaling the infrastructure necessary for big data is an insurmountable task for most businesses.Why Is Big Data Growing Exponentially?Citing a recent Bain & Company study, “Early adopters of Big Data analytics have gained a significant lead over the rest of the corporate world. Examining more than 400 large companies, [it was] found that those with the most advanced analytics capabilities are outperforming competitors by wide margins.”How? Big Data is being used by 94 percent of companies to identify new sources of revenue, and 89 percent of companies are using it to develop new products and services.According to the same Bain & Company study, companies using big data are:• Twice as likely to be in the top quartile of financial performance within their industry• Five times as likely to make decisions much faster than their peers• Three times as likely to execute decisions as intended• Twice as likely to use data very frequently when making decisionsBig Data Requires Robust Computer And Storage InfrastructuresConsidering the growth potential offered by big data implementation, it’s easy to understand why so many companies want to start collecting and processing data. According to a November 2014 survey by Accenture, only 5 percent of companies implement big data strategies solely through internal resources.Small to medium-sized businesses have the least resources available, and are least likely to be able to handle big data needs on their own; according to SMB Group, only 18 percent of small businesses and 57 percent of medium businesses are using big data.The cloud presents an easy and affordable onramp to start gathering, processing and using big data. In many ways, the emergence of cloud and big data are interrelated; there’s a symbiotic relationship between the two where each component drives the growth of the other.But if you’re relying solely on the cloud for your big data needs, you’re not tapping into the full potential of big data. Cloud is known to have I/O limitations. Big data systems need big scalable I/O pipes to perform well. Big data has big needs. Processing and storing enormous amounts of distributed data isn't for just any solution. To get the most out of big data, you need a more complete solution -- one that also includes bare metal servers.Hybrid Hosting To The RescueHybrid hosting combines the power of dedicated hosting with the flexibility and scalability of cloud computing to help accelerate big data deployments. Hybrid allows you to create meaning from the data more quickly, more efficiently and less expensively by utilizing the specific benefits of bare metal servers and the cloud in tandem.Hybrid harnesses the power of bare metal infrastructure for tasks like crunching numbers and analyzing data -- the heavy lifting. Utilizing the power of bare metal meets the high-CPU, high-memory, high-capacity requirements of big data. The cloud is tapped for the rest of big data’s needs: tasks like data rendering and processing. Even though the cloud isn’t processing “the really big stuff,” it still needs to be flexible, portable and quickly deployed, which hybrid hosting delivers in spades.Hybrid use is growing for big data applications, and for good reason. It lets you specify jobs for different storage/compute needs, which is critical in advancing performance of big data hosting platforms. Hybrid also adds a layer of efficiency. The unique features of hybrid hosting provide major advantages for your big data needs:• Bare metal power: Answer high-performance needs and handle extreme big data processing requirements while avoiding the risks of shared I/O that slows down performance.• Scalability: Through cloud, easily meet sudden spikes in requirements for processing in the presentation layer for big data application. You can scale up or down in an instant with one-hour deploy dedicated servers.• Predictable performance: The highly consistent performance of bare metal means you can scale as your operations grow. The variety and customization offered by true hybrid solutions - such as different levels of speed - make sure you have unmetered bandwidth between hybrid-enabled devices.• On-demand hybrid: Host the right application, on the right infrastructure and connect it seamlessly to other services on demand. Choose the speed your application needs – then configure and deploy within minutes.On-demand hybrid hosting adds efficiency to a big data application to easily harness the true power of big data. Cloud has a reputation for being inexpensive, but for many functions, bare metal servers will out-perform and save on cost. And by not having to outsource your big data needs, you’ll save even more money.True hybrid hosting is seamless to your application, and doesn't require you to install any proprietary software or set up special “Connect” configurations or special bridge devices. It leverages the latest technology by introducing the intelligence and automation in the network fabric, enabling rapid provisioning of both dedicated and cloud instances in one private network dedicated to you -- and only you. True hybrid allows customers to scale dedicated and cloud resources within the hybrid network, and also lets them scale the network speed and bandwidth instantly and on demand.Emil Sayegh is CEO of Codero Hosting.