Infochimps' Big Data Platform as-a-Service - A Path from Data to Value

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the Strata conference in Santa Clara, Infochimps, a CSC Big Data Business (www.Infochimps.com), announced its Big Data Platform as-a-Service offering. This offering consists of an integrated open source-based Big Data Platform, in addition to global managed services, and a new suite of comprehensive consulting services. It is the only complete offering that: 1) identifies where enterprises are in the Big Data adoption lifecycle; and 2) uses that knowledge to effectively guide them to an enterprise-wide ability to operationalize data and analytics. Leveraging open-sourced Big Data software based on web-scale technologies, a cloud delivery model, and tightly honed service methodologies, Infochimps provides both the platform and practical Big Data expertise to help companies navigate through the key phases of the Big Data lifecycle to transform vision into business value. 

"We've defined distinct phases along the Big Data adoption lifecycle where companies fall," said Jim Kaskade, head of CSC's open Big Data solutions. "We identify our customers' current state, and then carefully guide them to organization-wide operationalization of Big Data insights with our proven methodology." 

Waste Not, Want Not: Combining Existing Infrastructure with the Latest Resources 
According to Kaskade, one distinct aspect of the Infochimps offering is the ability to fully leverage everything companies currently have in place and then augment that with the necessary web-scale open source components to produce previously untapped data-driven insights. "Customers don't lose any of their current data infrastructure investment, and there's no backtracking or rebuilding. We put everything they already have to use." The company emphasizes that it can work with any organization to bring their Big Data project to operation – ranging from those with no data infrastructure to those with very sophisticated frameworks. 

Infochimps + CSC = the Only Company that Takes Disparate Data to Value
Since Infochimps joined CSC in 2013, industry thought leaders have speculated what the resultant combination would bring to the market. This year at Strata, company executives are offering an inside look at how the technology and Big Data acumen of Infochimps coupled with the enterprise expertise, industry knowledge and proven service methodologies of CSC are enabling companies to take their disparate data and begin deriving unprecedented, strategic insights within 30 days that lead to revenue, profits, and competitive advantage.   

At Strata, Jim Kaskade will describe the state of Big Data analytics from the purview of Infochimps' work with some of the world's top companies, and provide a vision of what's in store for the business landscape to come in 2014. 

The State of Big Data – Union, or Disunion?
Infochimps has found that companies are generally in the early phases of the Big Data adoption lifecycle, and few are actually deploying applications that drive measurable business value. This year at Strata, Infochimps is sharing some of the success secrets of organizations that have taken Big Data projects from inception to market, and consulting on project objectives, design, infrastructure, tools, and more through their Big Data workshops. As the only company capable of bringing Big Data initiatives from pain-point identification to competitive insight, Infochimps, now a CSC Big Data Business, is discussing how organizations are properly deploying Big Data and the key components of success, including: 

• Standardizing on open source technology 
• Leveraging a fully-integrated design pattern from Hadoop to Storm 
• Integrating with existing infrastructure 
• Focusing on the right use-cases 
• Using a comprehensive methodology that includes application templates, accelerators and analytics building blocks 

Big Data in 2014: Sifting Truth from Hyperbole 
As one of the busiest teams in Big Data, CSC + Infochimps has its finger on the direction of the industry, and is sharing key insights at the show. Kaskade will discuss how recent moves by Cloudera and Hortonworks indicate a crystallization of Gartner's predicted "Logical Data Warehouse." As the legacy, proprietary data stack is replaced by open source, cloud-based infrastructure, what possibilities will emerge for data-driven companies, and what challenges will they face? Kaskade will present some surprising trends. 

The 2nd Annual "CIOs & Big Data" Survey: What are Your Big Data Thoughts?
Infochimps has launched the questionnaire for its second annual "CIOs & Big Data: What Your IT Team Wants You to Know" report. Last year's report showed that 55 percent of Big Data projects aren't completed, with 58 percent citing "inaccurate scope" as the reason for failure. This year Infochimps will dig even deeper to examine the current state of Big Data in the enterprise. What do you want your CIO to know about Big Data? What do you believe are the biggest challenges enterprises face in deriving business value from Big Data? Stop by booth #740 at Strata and be among the first to learn more about our survey. 

About Infochimps
Infochimps, a CSC Big Data Business, was acquired by CSC in 2013. The CSC subsidiary delivers open-standards-based Big Data systems with unprecedented speed, scale and flexibility to enterprise companies. The Infochimps Big Data Platform-as-a-Service offering is comprised of three analytic environments as-a-Service including real-time data processing and streaming (Streaming-as-a-Service), ad hoc queries for actionable analytics (NoSQL-as-Service), and batch analytics with Hadoop-as-a-Service. These services are integrated and deployed in hybrid, private, virtual private and/or public cloud environments. With Infochimps' Big Data Platform-as-a-Service, enterprises focus on solving business problems, not on managing complex infrastructure. Request a demo of Infochimps Cloud at www.infochimps.com/demo.

About CSC
CSC is a global leader in next-generation IT services and solutions. The company's mission is to enable superior returns on clients' technology investments through best-in-class industry solutions, domain expertise and global scale. CSC has approximately 80,000 employees and reported revenue of $13.2 billion for the 12 months ended December 27, 2013. 

SOURCE Infochimps