Big Data Monitoring Simplifies Business Intelligence, Analytics

Once upon a time, data was just data. Then distinctions developed as network data and Big Data came along, complicating data analysis. Now, VSS Monitoring wants to erase the difference between these types of information—at least for business intelligence and analytics purposes—with a new platform called Big Data Visibility.

The product, according to the company, "closes the visibility gap into corporate data by combining network data with Big Data from external sources to allow analysis of that data as a single dataset." In other words, it allows users to monitor and analyze all data in the same, whether that data is being generated in real time on the network or exists in a static state somewhere else.

The platform is designed for a variety of applications, ranging from performance tweaking, business intelligence applications and forensics to compliance and security assurance, according to VSS Monitoring. It cited a 2012 study by IDC called the Digital Universe Study, which found that only about 3 percent of relevant data from all sources is properly monitored, with much of the overlooked information coming from "data in motion" sources such as the network.

Big Data Visibility clearly has value as a more comprehensive data-monitoring solution than most existing platforms provide. But one of its best qualities for enterprises (and one that VSS Monitoring does not seem to be emphasizing too strongly) is not its ability to be comprehensive as much as to perform in real time.

The paradox of Big Data, after all, is that the bigger it gets, the harder it is to analyze instantaneously. VSS Monitoring, however, is focusing on integrating a type of data that is real-time by definition—network data—with other data sources in a way that makes comprehensive, on-the-fly analysis possible. That could have important implications in scenarios where organizations don't have the time to let data accumulate before interpreting it.