This Week’s Big Data Big Four

The Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. and the wind-down of global technology news as December rolls around has led to a shorter list of news items this week, but hidden herein are a few key announcements, including items from Teradata, Progress Software, the University of Maryland and others.

Let’s dive in with news from the banking sector in Europe, which  is looking for more robust ways to manage massive wells of complex data…

Teradata Bags Polish Banking Giant

This week Teradata announced that the third largest bank in Poland, Bank Zachodni, has decided to deploy a new Teradata Active Enterprise Data Warehouse to support its business growth.

The bank says the new data warehouse will enable the bank to expand its customer base, enhance management reporting, better manage risk, and comply with future Basel regulations.

Teradata says the Active Enterprise Data Warehouse with the Teradata Database is flexible enough to grow as the bank grows. Teradata will also offer BZ WBK real-time performance for a range of applications – from reporting to advanced business analytics.

“The Teradata warehouse will integrate all data from throughout the bank and will provide a global view of the banking operations for the best decision possible. In an ultra-competitive financial environment, BZ WBK knows that leveraging data is a key differentiator,” said Marek Rudnicki, managing director, Teradata Poland.

NEXT — Progress Speeds to the Hive >

Progress Speeds to the Hive

Organizations are increasingly using Apache Hadoop open source software to store and process huge amounts of data. Many organizations are also using Apache Hive data warehouse for data summarization, query and analysis.

However, data comes in many forms and organizations need the ability to perform additional analysis in real-time using their existing SQL-based business intelligence and data analytics tools. This means they need a highly flexible and solid connection to these tools. Without such connectivity, companies’ analysts and decision makers are locked out of the insights contained in the Hadoop-based data warehouse.

To address these bottlenecks, Progress Softwarea this week announced the release of DataDirect Connect for ODBC 7.1 and DataDirect Connect XE for ODBC 7.1. The new releases emphasize fast, reliable, secure, and highly scalable connectivity for Apache Hive, a key big data source.

The DataDirect Connect for ODBC 7.1 and DataDirect Connect XE for ODBC 7.1 drivers also offer expanded support for cloud databases to include Microsoft SQL Azure, and additional premium features for an expanded spectrum of databases, including IBM DB2 10.1, IBM DB2 pureScale 9.8, Teradata 14, and Microsoft SQL Server 2012.

The new DataDirect Connect ODBC driver for Apache Hive will deliver the same breadth, quality, and efficiency that more than 300 OEM partners and hundreds of thousands of users of the comprehensive DataDirect data connectivity portfolio already enjoy today. For the corporate user, this driver will unlock reams of business intelligence and provide business analysts with the information they need to make accurate decisions quickly and easily. For ISVs and OEMs, this connectivity now means that they can have one driver with DataDirect quality and performance to enable their applications to connect to all major distributions of Hadoop, including Apache Hadoop, MapR Apache Hadoop, Amazon EMR and Cloudera’s distribution of Apache Hadoop.

NEXT — Maryland’s New Big Data Degree >

Maryland’s New Big Data Degree

Responding to a projected shortage of analytical experts, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business will launch a degree program focused on managing and analyzing big data. 

Classes begin in fall 2013 for the M.S. in Business for Marketing Analytics. The curriculum will equip its graduates to harness and process massive amounts of data to help design products, predict the effects of marketing campaigns, and better understand customers.

The big data trend has prompted Smith to open the new 30-credit, nine-month program. Collaborating with Merkle and other potential corporate partners, Smith faculty will guide students through lessons in the classroom to real business problems. Students will access the same data that companies are using to create competitive advantage.

Prospective marketing analytics specialists should have a strong background in quantitative disciplines such as mathematics, physics and engineering and be ready to adapt those skills to business and marketing, Moe added.

NEXT — Startup Ecosystems Thriving Outside Silicon Valley >

Startup Ecosystems Thriving Outside Silicon Valley

Research launched today by the Startup Genome and Telefónica Digital reveals that while Silicon Valley is still the world’s largest and most-influential start-up ecosystem, it clearly is not the only city where technology is taking hold. Flourishing communities in Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia have grown considerably over recent years and are now beginning to challenge Silicon Valley’s domination in technology innovation.

“I am really excited to reveal these insights around how global technology startup ecosystems stack up. Our hope is by completing the first data-driven, comparative study of this global phenomenon we will help to facilitate a constructive public dialogue”

The Startup Ecosystem Report 2012 argues that this trend suggests that countries are shifting from service-based economies to become increasingly driven by a new generation of fast-moving software and technology organizations.

The report finds that Tel Aviv, a highly advanced ecosystem, is the leading alternative to Silicon Valley, while on Silicon Valley’s doorstep, flourishing communities in New York and Los Angeles mean the USA is home to three of the largest ecosystems in the world. Across the Atlantic, London is by far the largest startup ecosystem in Europe, although its output is still just a third of that of Silicon Valley. Outside of the more traditional markets, Sao Paulo’s startup ecosystem is growing rapidly and creates more jobs for the local community than Silicon Valley does for its own.

The report identifies the ecosystem factors which have contributed to the success of Silicon Valley and uses it as a baseline to compare how well suited other cities are to fostering entrepreneurs. On this basis the top 20 start-up ecosystems in the world are:

In-depth research provides tangible findings for entrepreneurs, investors and policy makers

The Startup Genome, in partnership with Telefónica Digital, engaged with more than 50,000 entrepreneurs across the world to understand how well placed different ecosystems are to support the development and success of startups. Users of the StartupCompass.co – a business intelligence tool for startups – submitted information on their organizations based upon a range of factors, including financial, sales, marketing, product, business model, team, and market information.

Some of the key findings of the report are as follows:

Even well-developed ecosystems such as New York and London are suffering from a funding gap: they each have more than 70% less ‘risk’ capital available for early-stage, pre-product-market fit startups

New York can claim to be the global capital for female tech entrepreneurs. Nearly a fifth of New York’s entrepreneurs are women and it is home to twice as many female-run startups as Silicon Valley.

Santiago is a great example of an ecosystem kick-started by policy makers, with Start-up Chile creating a strong support network for entrepreneurs. Santiago startups have 4.81 mentors on average, nearly 25% more than Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley has left its imprint on all global startup ecosystems. Berlin (4%) and Sao Paulo (7%) have the least founders that lived in Silicon Valley, Singapore (33%) and Waterloo (35%) have the most entrepreneurs that were previously based in Silicon Valley.

Even though Singapore has a relatively well-established funding environment, the risk tolerance of founders is the lowest within the top 20 ecosystems.

Mapping key startup trends around the world

“I am really excited to reveal these insights around how global technology startup ecosystems stack up. Our hope is by completing the first data-driven, comparative study of this global phenomenon we will help to facilitate a constructive public dialogue,” explained Bjoern Lasse Herrmann, CEO of the Startup Genome. “We created this report for three reasons: firstly, to put a spotlight on the emerging hotspots of technology entrepreneurship that will be responsible for powering a massive global socio-economic structural shift; secondly, to further democratize the knowledge necessary to help spread the merits of Silicon Valley; and thirdly, to give actionable insights to entrepreneurs, investors, corporate development departments and policy makers.”

Gonzalo Martin-Villa, CEO of Wayra, Telefónica Digital’s global startup accelerator, said: “These results tangibly demonstrate how entrepreneurship is flourishing all over the world. We are now seeing emerging ecosystems beginning to act as real viable alternatives to the traditional centers of technology innovation. This is incredibly exciting, since it suggests that, increasingly, the necessary support infrastructures are in place the world over for bright minds to turn their ideas into reality.”

Steve Blank, a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur and contributor to the report, said: “The democratization of entrepreneurship from Silicon Valley and from Startup Ecosystems all over the world is creating new strategies and structures for innovation and disruption. The strategy lessons that we learn from these startups will light the way for a massive restructuring of all corporate organizations in the next 40 years. Only then will we look back and realize that we were just beginning the economic revolution of the wired world.”

The full report can be downloaded from http://blog.startupcompass.co/pages/entrepreneurship-ecosystem-report.