MapR and the Coming “Bigger Data” Era
Author: Albert Wang, Director for Qualcomm Ventures
Here at Qualcomm Ventures we love to work with companies that devise innovative solutions to emerging challenges. One such company, MapR Technologies, has crafted a flexible suite of tools to meet the Big Data needs of clients across a wide array of industries. But perhaps even more important is how the company’s software is distinctively situated to thrive in the Bigger Data era to come.
What’s bigger than Big Data?
It is estimated that the world currently outputs 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day (for the record, a “quintillion” is a one followed by 18 zeros). This unfathomably large number is only the beginning — the number of data-spewing humans on the Internet will only continue to balloon, but even more notable is the growing number of things online.
And we’re not just talking about the Internet of Things; that’s a small drop in the data bucket when compared to its less-famous (but far more robust) cousin, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The IIoT includes the components used in everything from the emerging fields of advanced manufacturing to connected agriculture to smart infrastructure. Conservative estimates predict that there will be nearly 25 billion devices online by 2020 — that’s more than three connected devices for every human on the planet. Expect the number of connected devices to rocket through the next decade and beyond. To support that kind of growth, we’ll need infrastructure and data platforms that are reliable, robust, and resilient.
Qualcomm is among the leaders devising the coming 5G wireless standard, which is specifically designed to connect all those billions of people and machines through ubiquitous high-bandwidth, high-speed networks.
Meanwhile, AI and machine learning will work with these newly connected devices to deliver amazing new applications, the lifeblood of which will be massive amounts of raw data. The ability to harness the coming data storm will be the enterprise challenge of the next decade.
Data done differently
At the heart of MapR’s offerings is the Converged Data Platform, which acts as a central data hub working across multiple stacks and silos. As we move into the Bigger Data future, IT teams must not only find ways to integrate multiple types of data from multiple sources (both legacy and active) into a single platform, but also from across multiple clouds (Amazon, Google, Azure, etc., as well as in-country and private clouds). The Converged Data Platform weaves all sources together into a data fabric that that can store, manage, process, apply and analyze as data happens. .
On the front end, MapR delivers a friendly and workable UX, while the backend offers notable improvements (over competing offerings) such as full data protection; better performance; and very importantly it solves the single point-of-failure problem inherent with other big data solutions.
The main facets of the Converged Data Platform are the MapR-XD Cloud Scale Data Store and the MapR-DB, NoSQL database. MapR XD can store any data at exabyte scale and support trillions of files with enterprise-grade features for systems of record at global 2000 enterprises. MapR-DB is a database management system that brings together operations and analytics, and real-time streaming and database workloads for data-intensive applications. Together, the MapR Platform helps to lower both hardware and operational costs of the most important applications and data.
The company also offers an innovative edge computing tool platform, MapR Edge, which allow companies to efficiently move store data and conduct analytics away from the central data centers, lowering latency in the process — once again, an ideal solution for IoT, IIoT or any application that requires real-time automation.
Since Qualcomm Ventures first invested in MapR three years ago, enterprise customers have demonstrated a clear preference for this converged data platform approach. In fact, 40 percent of MapR’s business comes from a direct competitor that couldn’t reliably handle the massive amounts of data.
MapR is already helping solve some of the biggest data challenges around the world. Aadhaar, India’s massive biometric identification program, has tapped MapR to be part of its platform, which is tasked with being able to quickly and accurately identify each of India’s 1.2 billion residents.
AUDI utilizes MapR’s Converged Data Platform to help them design cars faster and build them more efficiently, while integrating the company’s existing applications. HP selected MapR as their Big Data vendor for its performance enhancements over the competition in addition to its high availability, disaster recovery, manageability, and scalability. Novartis tapped MapR to connect resources for more than 6,000 scientists, physicians, and business professionals around the world.
You can read dozens of more use cases here.
Data is the fuel that runs the modern digital economy, and it will become even more vital in the Bigger Data future. Keep an eye on companies like MapR that optimize the data needs of today, while looking forward to the technological needs to come.
Albert Wang is a Director at Qualcomm Ventures. His current investment focuses are mobile cloud computing and cross-platform solutions with an expanded interest in disruptive startups that harness the confluence of social, mobile, and cloud computing trends. Learn more about Albert: https://www.qualcommventures.com/team/investment-team/albert-wang
