Latest posts
Is Infochimps running from the Data Market business?
by Paul Miller
on 28 February, 2013 • No Comments
Infochimps is one of the early champions of the data market business, and one that I’ve followed for several years. As I mentioned in my last post on the topic, the company has recently begun to pivot towards delivery of their (compelling) Enterprise Cloud big data analysis offering, with the company’s data market origins slipping further...
Discussing Data Markets in New York City
by Paul Miller
on 5 February, 2013 • No Comments
As part of GigaOM’s Structure:Data Conference (taking place in New York City on 20-21 March), Jo Maitland and I are going to host a Mapping Session on Data Marketplaces. What are they, what are they doing, why do they matter, and how does their future look? The session is intended to be highly interactive, so attendees...
[Some of] what you need to know about the cloud for 2013
by Paul Miller
on 3 January, 2013 • No Comments
Towards the end of last year, David Linthicum and I joined GigaOM’s Adam Lesser on a skype chat to take a look back at cloud successes and failures in 2012, and forward to cloud opportunities in 2013. GigaOM released the conversation as a podcast this morning. Amazon, Rackspace, Google, OpenStack, DropBox, and more get a...
Big Data as Core, Big Data as Context, and Big Data as Buzzword Bingo
by Paul Miller
on 20 December, 2012 • No Comments
It’s neither particularly newsworthy nor insightful to suggest that ‘Big Data’ gets everywhere these days, but two recent items reminded me of the gulf between credible execution of a big data play and the more questionable tacking of the big data meme onto an otherwise useful product. Christmas is coming. Which means skating, and pantomimes...
Hewlett Packard: a tale of many clouds
by Paul Miller
on 13 December, 2012 • 1 Comment
Hewlett Packard used its Discover event in Frankfurt last week to reassert the company’s cloud credentials. Public, private, hybrid; HP is painting pictures that encompass them all, whilst seeking to protect hardware revenues and reassure conservative executives at some of its largest and most profitable customers. But HP has been here before, making bold claims...
‘Autonomy Inside’ matters at Hewlett Packard
by Paul Miller
on 10 December, 2012 • No Comments
The Hewlett Packard marketing machine was busy last week, assuring the world that the company’s £7.1bn ($11.7bn) acquisition of Autonomy still made sense despite an eye-watering financial write down and unseemly public squabbling with the Cambridge company’s former management. HP CEO Meg Whitman used her keynote at HP Discover in Frankfurt to assert that the...
Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Microsoft SkyDrive; maybe they’re not apples after all?
by Paul Miller
on 21 November, 2012 • 3 Comments
Cloud storage product Dropbox is one of those tools that users tend to rave about. It’s deceptively simple. It’s pretty reliable. The value proposition is immediately apparent. It has paid tiers of usage that bring additional storage but (like other freemium beacons such as Evernote) the free offering is rich enough to be compelling, engaging,...
My GigaOM week – report published, fireside chat videos, and more
by Paul Miller
on 19 October, 2012 • No Comments
It’s been a pretty GigaOM-focussed week. To begin the week, my GigaOM Pro report on Europe’s Helix Nebula cloud project was published. Then Tuesday and Wednesday were dominated by activities in and around GigaOM’s first conference on this side of the Atlantic; Structure Europe, held in Amsterdam. I moderated two sessions on the main stage...
My GigaOM Pro report on metered computing
by Paul Miller
on 5 October, 2012 • No Comments
I’ve just had another report published on GigaOM Pro. This one, Metered IT: the path to utility computing, is about the importance of defining common ways of describing and measuring computing resources. Until you can do that, it isn’t really feasible to compare the true cost of running jobs on different IT infrastructures. The piece was underwritten...
Tesco uses data for more than just loyalty cards
by Paul Miller
on 1 October, 2012 • No Comments
Tesco. Poster-child of the data-driven retail experience, thanks to its loyalty card and early work with DunnHumby. But Tom Hebbert didn’t talk about that. Instead, he focused on their supply chain work. Rough notes from the session follow. Big Data projects deliver huge returns at Tesco; improving promotions to ensure 30% fewer gaps on shelves,...
Data Journalism at The Guardian
by Paul Miller
on 1 October, 2012 • No Comments
UK newspaper, The Guardian, has done some pioneering work to use data, and to engage readers in exploring data to share their own insights. The paper’s Simon Rogers and Google’s Kathryn Hurley shared some of the lessons at Strata this morning. Rough notes follow. Not going to talk about big projects like riots and Wikileaks and MP’s...
George Dyson does Strata
by Paul Miller
on 1 October, 2012 • No Comments
George Dyson (no, nothing to do with vacuum cleaners) delivered the final session before coffee here at Strata in London this morning. Rapidly jotted notes follow… When he was invited to speak, he didn’t know what big data was. Made up his own definition… “when the human cost of making the decision of throwing something...