Book ExcerptAmy O'Connor discusses the keys to analytic success

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Big Data is everywhere—from sensors that monitor traffic loads to the flood of tweets and Facebook “likes”. But how do organizations make sense of the mountain of data that now shape how we work and live? As available data becomes more complex and extensive, weaving it into an engaging visualization that invites understanding and decision-making is a big challenge, with a bigger opportunity for payoff. Featuring articles, whitepapers, video and audio, this timely eBook:

• Shows why data visualization has become such as important tool
• Explores how data visualization techniques are becoming increasingly integrated into the decision making process for both IT and non-technical executives
• Demonstrates how to put best-practices into place to fully leverage data visualization tools

newsNew Jersey-based cloud management vendor comes with $104 million proposed price tag; Red Hat aims for expansion of its open hybrid cloud plans

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interview10 Minutes with analyst and author Lyndsay Wise, on her new book, the handful of exciting innovations in business intelligence, and the mixture of caution and “love” enterprise developers can have with open source
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ChecklistThese checklists will help you identify the tasks and considerations involved in planning your open source business intelligence implementation

blogOpen cloud groups can’t lose sight of user migration and operability requirements

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newsSocial media giant outlines its new data cluster scheduling alternative to MapReduce; engineers say data loads hit a wall with Hadoop scalability planning

Open Source BI solutions have many advantages over traditional proprietary software, from offering lower initial costs to more flexible support and integration options; but, until now, there has been no comprehensive guide to the complete offerings of the OS BI market. Writing for IT managers and business analysts without bias toward any BI suite, industry insider Lyndsay Wise covers the benefits and challenges of all available open source BI systems and tools, enabling readers to identify the solutions and technologies that best meet their business needs. Wise compares and contrasts types of OS BI and proprietary tools on the market, including Pentaho, Jaspersoft, RapidMiner, SpagoBI, BIRT, and many more. Real-world case studies and project templates clarify the steps involved in implementing open source BI, saving new users the time and trouble of developing their own solutions from scratch. For business managers who are hard pressed to indentify the best BI solutions and software for their companies, this book provides a practical guide to evaluating the ROI of open source versus traditional BI deployments.

blogCloud-oriented open source groups miss core enterprise needs on migration, utilization

With the Information Superhighway now stretching to practically everywhere, anyone in charge of corporate data has something in common – the need for an effective means of governance. While the challenges vary from one industry and company to the next, the underlying reality is universal: businesses that hope to remain agile must find a way to secure a strategic view of enterprise data. There will never be a silver bullet for marshalling the increasing volumes of data, but at least there is one irrefutable truth: a unified data management platform can solve most of the problems that information managers encounter. In fact, by creating a centralized repository for data definitions, lineage, transformations and movements, companies can avoid many troubles before they occur.

The benefits of a unified data management platform are many. They include:

* Improved data quality

* Better reporting and analysis

* Facilitated compliance

* Streamlined business processes

* Increased enterprise agility

14:57Companies selling traditional data integration tools impose a ‘data tax’ on their customers. But what exactly is this data tax? It’s all the unpredictable, hidden costs you’ll incur over the lifetime of your software. Because unlike Talend, proprietary data integration vendors base their business models and pricing on data volume. As your data increase, so will your costs.

16:50Data governance is an outstanding business strategy that leads your company toward greater efficiency, lower risk and increased revenue. Proper management of data underpins the success many strategic initiatives. However, it is not always easy for others to see its value. This white paper discusses the techniques that have been successful for data champions as they "sell" the importance of data governance to their company. It examines guidelines for optimal project selection, tracking the value of data governance and techniques for overcoming objections to a data governance program.

14:53Organizations have long sought to leverage the knowledge embedded within their existing data assets. However, this desire often clashes with a corporate data environment that is siloed and inconsistent. Many organizations may have already invested in solving data integration, data quality and master data management solutions; however, there is interdependence between these technologies that truly maximizes data utility across the enterprise.

14:55Open source data integration tools can provide the cost advantages of hand?coding with the productivity advantages of traditional data integration software. They are established in the developer tools market which has been the traditional stronghold of open source software. Expect open source to be a key component of data integration (and especially of operational data integration) in the near future, similar to the way it is a key component of application development environments today.