Real-Time Analytics: Opening the Door to New Possibilities

We are living in a world of information overload. This data deluge makes it difficult for businesses to get the right information at the right time to make better business decisions.

In fact, traditional data management technologies are not keeping up with today’s large volumes of data in motion, which is flowing at an unprecedented speed. The answer is real-time analytics. This set of technologies processes data or resources within seconds or minutes for analysis, reporting, automation, or business intelligence purposes.

Real-time analytics is a pivotal capability for next-generation networks. Analytics applications can be embedded in networking gear to capture events, monitor performance, detect anomalies, or optimize configurations in real time.

Technologies that provide real-time insight into network traffic will improve operating efficiency and root-cause analysis and fault prediction. They will also support streaming query processing. The result will be continuous monitoring of live data, instantaneous query processing, real-time analysis and action, and efficient use of compute resources.

A multibillion dollar market:

The opportunity is huge. In 2012, business intelligence, corporate performance management, and analytics applications and performance management software was worth US$13.1 billion worldwide.

Leading companies (for example, SAP, IBM, Oracle, Cisco, SAS, and Microsoft) believe that real-time capabilities are critical for future analytics, and they are increasingly integrating them into their product portfolios.

As the cost of device memory decreases, in-memory analytics and distributed cache technologies are becoming more and more popular. Typical use cases include financial trade analysis; individual risk-based pricing for insurance; smart transportation; targeted advertising; video surveillance; and fault or anomaly detection in electric grids, telecommunication networks, and production lines.

The possibilities for real-time analytics are vast, in areas such as machine-to-machine technology, smart grids, connected vehicles, and enterprise collaboration.

The real-time analytics umbrella covers a broad range of technologies. Examples include complex event processing engines, streaming databases, massive parallel processing algorithms, in-memory compute grids, high-performance computing hardware, and graphical processing units.

Real-time analytics innovation creating fertile ground for new ventures:

Since 2004, innovations in the domain of real-time analytics have multiplied. The proof is more than 7000 patented inventions filed so far worldwide—with much of the focus on the development of business intelligence and mining analytical tools.

Large companies do not dominate this advance. The majority of total patented inventions originates from small startups.

Clearly, there is considerable excitement and energy in this field.

And the market is listening. Venture capital funding is on the rise, with early stage investments driving the wave and running the gamut from game applications to cyber-security and oil field real-time analytics.

Looking forward, real-time analytics are set to be a game changer for business productivity across industries.

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