Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
We have done it and we have started seeing the first results. It has taken us about
three years to get there. What basically happens is you have these little, little things,
you know they are about this size, 1 square centimeter. On top of it you have a solar
panel so that you can recreate and add energy to the batteries because they are going
to stay in place for about a week. You have a little antenna because we are going to
transmit some data. Indeed, to really measure well you need to measure at 500 hertz,
every experiment takes about 15 minutes and the device measures 24 bits so do the
calculation: you get the total of a couple petabytes worth of data. Now you just do not
transfer two petabytes of data over wireless, there is no way you can do it today with
current technologies. So you need to transfer sample data, have a first level of
visibility and then when you take all the devices back after a week and after you have
run 10-20 tests, what you basically do is you put the device in a holder, which will
recharge the batteries and at the same time it will suck the data out. Second thing,
how do I know which device is where? Well, the advantage this sensor has is that in
24 hours because of its sensitivity, feeling the changes in traction of moon and sun, it
can tell you very precisely where it is. It is quite interesting.
6
Big Data
This is an example of how you use some of those technologies to really be able to
start doing new things. Now we are in very early days of all of this, but this is where
we are going and this is probably where we will be by the year 2020. It is a whole
ecosystem that is actually being built up because now I am going to get these zillions
of devices all over the place and each and every one of those devices will give their
information or their data, I should say.
Now that data may or may not be used as a piece of raw information. In some
situations yes, and in other situations you want it to be aggregated with other pieces of
information. So, what you start seeing is the data percolating through a network of
aggregators to obtain the level of integration you require for the data to deliver you
the information you require. This happens through a net of interrelated technologies,
interrelated environments, interrelated infrastructures using cloud computing. It
basically gets you the ultimate level of information that you actually want. If you look
at the weather, you are not interested in just the temperature just now, you are
interested in the complete picture, what is the temperature, what is this, what is that. It
is a combination of multiple elements and then that combination together creates you
a base of what is being called, for lack of a better term, “big data”. I can now go and
analyze it to give me what I am really looking for. I can eventually combine that with
information that comes with the latest feeds from Irish TV or from the BBC or from
CNN. I can combine that with information from anywhere to give me the type of
information that I may need do my job.
About six months ago, I wrote down this example. Assume I need to go to a
customer. I am arriving in the parking lot, my agenda is up to date so the system
knows which customer I am actually going to meet. When I get out of my car it
flashes me on my screen: “First of all, don't forget the guy you're meeting just had his
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