Editor’s Note: The ecosystem of big data analytics, and its intersection with mobile networks and cloud computing has increasing relevance to wireless in areas that include service assurance, customer experience management, mobile marketing, location-based services and more. Here is a look at the week’s big data analytics news.
—ABI Research says that location-based services are entering a “new era” of opportunities for carriers, with applications for network optimization and personalized offerings for subscribers that are based on the ability to leverage collect and analyze large amounts of location data.
“Location for carriers is no longer about navigation applications,” said Patrick Connolly, senior analyst for ABI. “Location will become an essential tool in network optimization and [customer experience management], as we move to LTE, [heterogeneous networks] and personalized subscriber packages. While this in itself gives a clear [return on investment], there is also significant upside on new exciting areas such as retail/indoor, financial/banking, big data analytics and advertising.”
ABI expects direct carrier revenues in this area to reach $2 billion by 2019 “with far greater long-term potential.” ABI cited an increase in joint ventures between carriers to provide scale in this area, as well as announcements of solutions such as Verizon’s Precision Market Insights and Smart Rewards; AT&T’s Location Information Services; SK Telecom’s Indoor Location; Sprint’s Pinsight Media; and Orange’s Data for Development.
“Carriers have been sitting on a location goldmine for too long, fearing a privacy backlash,” Connolly said. “However, through careful segmentation of aggregated, anonymous analytics and advertising, coupled with clear opt in/out options and third-party approval of anonymity, carriers can overcome these unnecessary fears, while giving subscribers the power to choose how their data is used, if at all. Demand is growing for location-based information and there is always a need for a Google alternative. Carriers are well placed in the analytics, retail, financial and advertising spaces to be just that.”
—A new survey from Nucleus Research concludes that budgets for business analytics are on the rise, with 71% of respondents planning to increase spending in that area in 2015. According to Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research, business analytics projects are “delivering an average of $13.01 for every dollar spent. We expect vendors will continue to invest in both emerging capabilities and cloud delivery options to meet the demands of users to attack more business challenges with analytics.”
—National Instruments has a new offering designed to handle big analog data for industrial “Internet of Things” applications. Its new NI InsightCM Enterprise, is software for monitoring the health of capital equipment for maintenance and operations purposes. It relies on sensor information compiled from thousands of sensors that provides data management and analysis as well as systems management, including remote diagnosis of machine faults for industries that rely on heavy machinery such as oil and gas, power, mining and manufacturing.
—In other big data analytics news this week, Oracle had its OpenWorld conference this week, and many of its platform-related announcements had both big data analytics and mobile components. Read more here.
—On the heels of Oracle’s news, a number of companies are emphasizing their interoperability with Oracle products. Enterprise application software company MicroStrategy said that its platform is now certified for compatibility with Oracle’s Database 12c with the in-memory database option, improving performance for its mobile big data analytics applications. Teradata announced that its QueryGrid software for orchestrating analytics engines and file systems connects with Oracle databases. And in perhaps another sign of the increasing importance of big data analytics, Teradata’s CTO, Stephen Brobst, was named by ExecRank as one of its top four CTOs — the others are from Intel, Amazon.com and Telsa Motors.
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