Companies already are benefiting from a move into business analytics, and IBM Netezza's simpler solution to big data is finding a welcome audience among business marketing and operations power users.

Customers and partners of Key Information Systems, an IBM Premier Business Partner and systems integrator in Woodland Hills, Calif., were briefed on IBM Netezza's latest big data initiative at a dinner meeting in March in Costa Mesa, California sponsored by Key Info to keep its clients informed on the latest IT developments.

Attending the Key Information Systems dinner meeting in Costa Mesa, California, in March, are, from left, David Russell, IBM Netezza Western Region Sales Director and the event's guest speaker; Pete Elliot, Director of Marketing for Key Info; Raquel V. Hernandez, IBM Business Partner and Relationship Manager, and Kenyan Branscomb, IBM Netezza Account Executive.

_________________________________________

Guests were briefed by David Russell, IBM Netezza's western region sales director, on ways that companies today are using data as a "strategic asset." Information growth today is accelerating at an exponential rate, Russell told the, audience, and the implications are enormous.

Attendees were shown how analytics is being deployed by large successful companies in conjunction with the collection of big data. He pointed to the success of companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Facebook, which are taking advantage of vast amounts of consumer data to further growth. Twitter collects 7TB/day to Facebook’s 10TB/day. “Data is a source of uniqueness and uniqueness is a source of competitive advantage,” Russell observed.Such companies, including IBM, greatly value the "speed of innovation," Russell said and added that marketing and operations are the two largest users applying business analytics to big data resources.

Russell summarized Netezza's solutions available for mining big data and detailed IBM’s big data platform, highlighting its four main elements: Hadoop, information integration, stream computing, and massively parallel processing (MPP) data warehouses. Russell unveiled the company's enhanced method of data warehousing using the IBM Netezza TwinFin appliance, which offers a simpler and faster system along with a purpose-built analytics engine, among other features. For more information, visit Key Information Systems and Netezza.