By BobGourley
The TechAmerica Foundation is a non-profit (501c3), non-partisan resource and voice for the US technology industry. They have a tremendous reputation for encouraging industry-wide collaboration and for disseminating concepts, ideas and well researched policy proposals on topics such as US competitiveness in a global economy, innovation in the nation and in government, and many other important concepts that contribute to the general welfare of the nation.
We mentioned in May 2012 that TechAmerica was embarking on a Virtuous Examination of the Big Data Construct. We are now proud to announce that their activities have resulted in a study that in my opinion will prove to be a landmark study. They have just announced publication of the report from this commission: “Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide to Transforming the Business of Government.”
We believe this report is of such high interest to most of our readers that we should encourage you to read every element of it yourself. You will find it articulates, with clarity, concepts and solution frameworks and use cases that will help you deliver Big Data solutions.
We plan on summarizing and reporting on this document over the next month. We will be highlighting a different section each week and wrapping up those sections in our Weekly Big Data Newsletter.
Here is more on the report from the Cloudera website:
PRESS RELEASE — OCT 03, 2012 10:15 PDT
Cloudera and Industry Leaders Release Recommendations Report for Big Data in Government
TechAmerica Foundation’s Big Data Commission Publishes Comprehensive Guide to Best Practices for Big Data
PALO ALTO, CA – October 3, 2012 – Cloudera, the category leader that is setting the standard for Apache Hadoop in the enterprise, collaborated with leading experts from both industry and academia to issue the report “Demystifying Big Data: A Practical Guide To Transforming The Business of Government.” The report outlines a comprehensive roadmap to using Big Data in the federal government to better serve the American public.
As a member of TechAmerica Foundation’s Big Data Commission, Cloudera worked alongside industry leaders to demystify the term “Big Data” and articulate the business value of Big Data for government agencies. This comprehensive and first-of-its-kind report defines key terms; explains the underlying technology in simple terms; and identifies best practices and lessons learned from early efforts. The report also offers a set of policy recommendations and practical steps agencies can take to get started on Big Data initiatives.
“Government agencies at the Federal, State and Local level are confronting the same challenge that commercial organizations have been struggling with in recent years: how to best capture and utilize the increasing amount of data that is coming from more sources than ever before. Making sense of that increased volume of data and using it to drive informed policies and offer better services for citizens demands new tools and new approaches by government IT staff and analysts,” said Mike Olson, CEO of Cloudera and TechAmerica Commissioner. “For example, data captured from smart grids can be used to better understand energy production and demand to help drive policies that let utilities and consumers utilize energy more efficiently. We are proud to be part of the TechAmerica Big Data Commission as we work toward creating a better understanding of Big Data and how it can be used to improve policies and services.”
“The Big Data commission is another example of the power to create change when the technology industry and government work hand-in-hand,” said Jennifer Kerber, President of the TechAmerica Foundation. “Big Data has the power to transform how government delivers services to citizens, and it is one of the many new tools available to enhance our daily lives.”
Complementing the report’s Practical Roadmap and Key Policy Recommendations is the Business Value of Big Data, described as:
- Improving decision-making and operational intelligence
- Eliminating waste, fraud and abuse
- Innovating new business models and stakeholder services
The full Commission report can be found here:http://www.techamerica.org/Docs/fileManager.cfm?f=techamerica-bigdatareport-final.pdf
Relevant Links to Cloudera’s work and events in the federal sector
- Cloudera was recently recognized on Federal Computer Week’s “12 Hot Companies to Watch” list for the inroads it has made in the federal sector:http://fcw.com/Articles/2012/09/30/FED-LIST-hot-companies-to-watch.aspx?Page=1
- Carahsoft and Cloudera have teamed to help government agencies address Big Data:http://www.prweb.com/releases/Carahsoft_Cloudera/08_07_2012/prweb9770932.htm
- Join GigaOM Pro and Cloudera CTO Amr Awadallah for “Parsing the Union: the Federal Government and Big Data,” a free analyst roundtable webinar on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 10 a.m. PT.http://pro.gigaom.com/webinars/cloudera-parsing-the-union-the-federal-government-and-big-data/
About Cloudera
Cloudera, the leader in Apache Hadoop-based software and services, enables data driven enterprises to easily derive business value from all their structured and unstructured data. Cloudera’s Distribution including Apache Hadoop (CDH), available to download for free atwww.cloudera.com/downloads, is the most comprehensive, tested, stable and widely deployed distribution of Hadoop in commercial and non-commercial environments. For the fastest path to reliably using this completely open source technology in production for Big Data analytics and answering previously un-addressable big questions, organizations can subscribe to Cloudera Enterprise, comprised of Cloudera Manager software and Cloudera Support. Cloudera also offers training and certification on Apache technologies, as well as consulting services. As the top contributor to the Apache open source community and with tens of thousands of nodes under management across customers in financial services, government, telecommunications, media, web, advertising, retail, energy, bioinformatics, pharma/healthcare, university research, oil and gas and gaming, Cloudera’s depth of experience and commitment to sharing expertise are unrivaled.www.cloudera.com
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