IBM introduces new data analysis software

By Jake Widman
Saturday, 16 May 2009 02:05

Development

At its annual investor briefing, IBM announced "stream computing" software for the analysis of unstructured data in real time.

In its announcement, IBM explained that its System S software is meant to address the problems businesses have with the "skyrocketing" amounts of data available to them.

"By 2010, the amount of digital information is expected to reach 988 exabytes, roughly the equivalent of a stack of books from the Sun to Pluto and back," according to the statement.

While some of that information is structured in databases for ease of retrieval and analysis, more and more of it is unstructured data from incompatible sources.

IBM cites data sources such as electronic sensors, Web pages, e-mail, blogs, and video. This data arrives in a constant stream, too much to categorize and store even if it were able to be fit into existing data structures.

System S, by contrast, uses what IBM calls "perpetual analytics" to analyze up to thousands of data sources on the fly, retrieve the desired information, and refine its actions as new data comes in.

"The ability to manage and analyze incoming data in real time and use it to make smarter decisions, can help businesses and other enterprises differentiate themselves," said Dr. John E. Kelly III, IBM senior vice president and director of IBM Research.

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