Big Data for Finance

Big Data Bytes: Xenomorph, 1010Data, Arialytics, Teradata, IBM

The latest from the big data meets fitech world ...

* Xenomorph's TimeScape analytics and data management platform can now leverage Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud, leveraging Windows Azure Infrastructure Services. Says Xenomorph CEO Brian Sentance: "Some of our clients have followed the pattern of successful on-premise deployment and once this business logic is production proven, they then want to move it offsite. This new capability for TimeScape is a direct response to that need."

* 1010Data has released version 6 of its cloud analytics platform.  Included are improvements to the company's Trillion Row Spreadsheet interface, faster importing of data, more advanced in-database analytics and machine learning functions.

* Arialytics has introduced its Aria platform, a big data processing and predictive analytics system aimed at the investment research function.  Data cleansing functions are built in to ensure that analytics product optimum results for investment, hedging or risk strategies.

* Teradata has introduced Teradata Intelligent Memory, adding in-memory functionality to its data warehouse products. The technology assesses the 'heat' of data - how often it is accessed - to keep just the 'hot' data in memory. Teradata reckons that 90% of queries are directed to just 20% of datasets.

* IBM has introduced IBM InfoSphere BigInsights Enterprise Edition V2.1, incorporating a Big SQL interface for accessing Hadoop, and also allows the General Parallel File System to be used as an alternative to HDFS.

MPPs in Play: Actian Grabs ParAccel; EMC Launches Pivotal

The world of massively parallel processing (MPP) databases just got more interesting with Actian's acquisition of ParAccel, and the formal launch of EMC's Pivotal offspring, which draws heavily on the capabilities of the company's Greenplum unit and its MPP database.

Big Data Bytes: Intel/LSI, 10Gen, MarkLogic, Actian

The latest from the big data world for the financial tech world ...

* Intel is partnering with storage specialist LSI to integrate the latter's Nytro PCIe flash memory technology into its RAID cache controllers. Among other applications, the combination is a boost for Hadoop. Tests show a 500 GB TeraSort taking 73 minutes with the LSI technology, versus 101 minutes without it.

* 10Gen - developer of the MongoDB NoSQL database - has appointed Sydney Carey as its CFO. She previously had that role at messaging and big data vendor Tibco Software. The move highlights the investment focus being directed at emerging big data companies.

* Fellow NoSQL technology specialist MarkLogic has raised $25 million in its latest financing round, bringing the total raised to $71.2 million. The latest funding was led by Sequoia Capital and Tenaya Capital, with participation from Northgate Capital. MarkLogic CEO Gary Bloom also made a personal investment in this financing round.

* Actian has completed its acquisition of Pervasive Software. Pervasive markets data integration and analysis tools, including its parallel processing DataRush platform.

Big Data Bytes: Kove/McObject Benchmark Risk, Actian Connects to Hadoop, 1010Data Stats

While we wait for solid news from EMC and VMware on their Pivotal Initiative ... here is some big data news nuggets for the world of financial tech ...

* Kove and McObject have teamed with capital markets consultancy Fultech to run a risk management benchmark on their joint offering. Running McObject's eXtremeDB against Kove's RAM appliance, the benchmark processed some 65 terabytes of data per hour, performing Value-at-Risk calculations on 50,000 customer accounts.

* Actian has released version 3.0 of its Vectorwise analytics platform, adding in connectivity to Hadoop, allowing complex analytics to be run on that data.  In tests, more than three terabytes of data was ingested per hour, on a commodity x86 server.

* 1010Data - a hosted big data service - added more than 80 customers in 2012.  It now hosts more than 11.5 trillion rows of data in more than 650,000 tables.  The company's service is based on technology from Kx Systems.

MapR Sets New MinuteSort Record; Grabs $30 Million

Hadoop distributor MapR Technologies recently announced that it had set a new world MinuteSort record using Google's cloud-based compute offering. Following up on that, the company just raised a further $30 million in investment.

Intel Enters Hadoop Fray

Intel has introduced its own distribution of Hadoop, incorporating enterprise level features for security, performance and management. The IT giant has also announced a number of partners for its offering, which it will sell on a subscription basis, ranging from the likes of Cisco Systems and Dell, to MarkLogic, SAP and Teradata.

Big Data Bytes: EMC, Actian, IBM, ParAccel, MapR

The first big data roundup in 2013 ...

* EMC has released an enhanced version of its EMC Greenplum Data Computing Appliance, featuring a redesign that provides greater than 70% performance gains over the prior generation for data loading and scanning, and 100% performance increases for concurrent query workloads.

Q&A: Dell's Bob Barris on the ABCD of Big Data Analytics

Combining its server, storage and networking hardware with open source and partner software, and professional services, Dell is shaping up to be an IT heavyweight in the big data space.

We tapped Dell VP of sales for financial services Bob Barris to explain the company's offering, and he responded that it's as easy as ABC ... and D.

Q: Dell is transforming from a major hardware product company into one focused on delivering solutions.  How is it organised to address (a) the needs of financial markets participants (b) customers' big data initiatives, and (c) the convergence of the two?

A: Dell has a long history of activity in the financial markets going back to our very beginning in the 1980s.  Our hardware products, Dell servers, desktops and notebooks, have always had a prominent place on Wall Street.  However, more recently, Dell has transformed itself to an end-to-end technology provider, offering IT solutions designed to solve customer technology pain points based on various industry challenges.

Oracle Announces X3-2 Appliance; Includes Cloudera

Oracle has that perfect holiday present for data scientists ... the just announced Oracle Big Data Appliance X3-2 includes the latest microprocessors from Intel, plus a distribution of Cloudera's Hadoop, together with Cloudera Manager.  Specifically, Oracle is tapping Intel's Xeon E5-2600 8-core chips (sometimes referred to as Sandy Bridge), and the appliance can be configured up to 288 cores.

Cloudera Raises $65 million For Enterprise Expansion

Hadoop platform distributor Cloudera has raised $65 million in additional funding to support global expansion, product development and enterprise adoption of its platform.  The funding round was led by early backer Accel Partners, with support from existing investors Greylock Partners, Ignition Partners, In-Q-Tel and Meritech Capital Partners.  This new funding brings to $140 million the amount raised by the Palo Alto-based company, and values it at $700 million, according to press reports.