If you’re a government IT professional, big data is a phrase you probably hear more times a day than you’d care to tally. But do you know what exactly constitutes big data? What makes big data, big, is a combination of factors that includes both the quantity of data, the speed at which it arrives and is needed for use, the source of the data, and the fact that it isn’t always delivered to the network at the same rate, that is, that there are high peaks and low troughs based on user engagement and work flow that need to be accommodated. These factors can be neatly summarized as the four V’s of big data – volume, velocity, variety, and variability.
Being an in-the-know IT person you’ll immediately recognize that all of these things that define big data are also likely to stress the network in your charge and put it at risk for performance issues and the dreaded network crash. And neither of things can happen for networks that are an essential part of delivering the agency’s mission.
So what can be done?
The best first step is to ensure that your backend infrastructure, including your data bases are up for the challenge and structured for optimized performance. Chief among the traits that you’ll want your data base to possess are its ability to work as part of an existing infrastructure, to be able to handle complex inquiries, create well-defined schemas, and offer a rich set of tools.
Wondering if your data bases stack up? To learn more about data base optimization for the public sector why not register for this August 28th webinar, brought to you by Oracle.
