Big Data Technology: Characteristics, Functions and Architecture

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Big Data Technology – Big data is a term to refer to a collection of large amounts of information that can later be used in making decisions.

Especially in this digital era, many things require data as the main reference. Even though the concept of big data may not be too familiar to the ear, in fact it plays many important roles in almost all activities, you know.

Then what are the other benefits and examples of implementing big data in our daily lives? Check out the full review below!

What is Big Data Technology?

Big Data Technology Characteristics, Functions and Architecture

Big data is a term that describes a large volume of data. But, you need to know, it’s not the amount of data that’s important, but the purpose someone does with the data. In short, big data is advanced technology with greater capacities and more complex data sets.

This data set has such a wide scope that traditional data processing software will not be able to manage it. You can use this huge data capacity to solve business problems that you might not have been able to handle before.

Why is Big Data Technology Important?

Big data is one of the most in-demand niches in enterprise software development and enhancements today. Big data is a socio-technological phenomenon fueled by the rapidly growing volume of information.

The world of technology is experiencing very fast and rapid changes, and big data is a solution in automation and the development of AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology. Google and other top-tier companies are already using machine learning processes to achieve greater precision in delivering services.

As technologies around the world become more synchronous and interoperable, big data will become the core that connects everything. With the ability to collect large volumes of international data efficiently, you will also be able to better understand and manage various phenomena.

Characteristics of Big Data

Big data has its own characteristics, you know. What do you think? The 5 characteristics of big data are as follows:

1. Volume

In this era of industrial revolution 4.0, you can see exponential growth in data storage because data is now more than just text data. You will find data in video, music and large image formats on your social media.

Today, it’s considered common sense to have Terabytes and Petabytes on storage systems in enterprises. As the database grows, the applications and architectures built to support the data need to be re-evaluated.

2. Velocity

The growth of data and the popularity of social media have changed the way we view data. News and radio channels allow you to receive news faster. Now, people are competing to reply to a post on social media to update it with current events.

On social media, sometimes messages sent hours or minutes ago are known as “old messages”. In essence, data regulation is now near real time and update times have been reduced to fractions of a second.

3. Variety

Data can now be stored in various formats. For example database, excel, csv, access or other simple text files. However, sometimes, you need data that is not available in traditional formats, for example in the form of video, SMS, pdf or something you may not have thought of.

It is the obligation of an organization to manage these data. It will be very easy to do if they have data in the same format or overcome the variations in file formats with big data which is an advanced technology.

4. Value

Value means that big data has a high value if it is processed in the right way or it can also be called a very meaningful data. For example, the biodata of an employee at a hosting service company will not be of value for the purpose of predicting sales to customers. 

This data may not be considered important, but it can be of great value in other ways. Data that has no value in various aspects will be filtered in the big data analysis system.

5. Veracity

The last characteristic of big data is Veracity, which is vulnerability in terms of accuracy and validity so it requires depth to analyze it in order to make the right decisions. 

Big Data concept

The concept of big data as a whole consists of integration, management and data analysis. The complete concept of big data is as follows:

1. Data integration

Big data brings together data from many different sources and applications. Traditional data integration mechanisms, such as ETL ( extract, transform, and load ) are no longer relevant when applied to big data concepts.

New strategies and technologies are needed to analyze big data on a terabyte, or even petabyte scale. During integration, you need to input data, process it and ensure that the format is available in the required form for your business analyst.

2. Data management

Big data requires a storage area that can store data in any form. With big data, you can do the processing you want. Many people choose big data storage solutions like Cloud. The cloud is gradually gaining popularity as it supports your current computing requirements and allows you to deploy features as needed.

3. Data analysis

The practical value of big data will be felt when you analyze and act on your data. Because that’s where you will gain new clarity with visual analysis of diverse data sets. 

You can dive deeper into the data to make new discoveries and share those findings with others. You can also build data models with machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Big Data Architecture

The big data architecture is the overall structure that represents the logical and physical systems of the big data itself, managed by using good storage technology, a server network that can be accessed at any time, and sophisticated algorithms. 

There are several important points in the big data architecture illustration, namely:

  1. Data source or data source. This data source comes from various sources such as personal data from potential online shop customers.
  2. Data aggregator as big data processing tools. These tools will receive the data and distribute it. There are 2 ways that can be used, namely:
    • Real time streaming processor (analyzing data in real time).
    • Hadoop, which is a very large data repository. 
  3. If the data is considered light, the stage after the real time streaming processor is that the data will be directly stored in the data store or data storage area.
  4. But if the calculated data is very large, it will go through Hadoop. Data must also be processed using a non-real time processor system. Then, after that the new data can be stored in the data store.
  5. Data stored on the data source will be accessible in no time. But with the condition that the data management goes well, because if not the data will be chaotic and less useful. 

Big Data Functions

The presence of big data in life is certainly able to facilitate all the activities of its users. What are they? The following is a list of big data functions. 

1. Finding the cause of a problem in real time

First, the big data function is a real time problem solver. Utilization of big data can also minimize failure. After analyzing it, the results of the analysis can be displayed directly or in real time.

2. Detect an anomaly in the business structure

Furthermore, the function of big data is to detect forms or processes of activities that deviate and stop due to errors from a technical or non-technical perspective. In addition, big data will also plan several options to deal with these anomalies more quickly and precisely to help the company’s business activities. 

3. Assist in making a decision accurately

The last function of big data is to help decision making. Currently big data is often used for intelligent technology systems such as IoT (internet of things) and AI (artificial intelligence), where the task is to provide and store data/information needed in developing a product. 

Benefits of Big Data

Big data has been implemented in almost every industry such as:

  1. Healthcare: Gather public health data for a more rapid response to individual health concerns and identify new disease outbreaks globally;
  2. Banking: Monitoring financial markets;
  3. Education: Monitor and track student performance and map student interest in various subjects;
  4. 4.Retail: Analyze consumer and supply chain behavior and personalize their e-commerce for a better experience;
  5. Insurance: Handling claims through predictive analytics;
  6. Media and Entertainment: Following the latest trends;
  7. Transportation and Logistics: Route planning, monitoring, and traffic management; And
  8. Manufacturing: Allocating production resources optimally.

Examples of Big Data Usage

Some things that are considered as the application or use of big data are as follows:

1. Use of the internet

Every day we are all connected to the internet, right? Now the data that appears in your search results on Google is data stored by Google, you know!

2. Social media

In this technological era, social media has become a part of human life. Status updates or photos and sharing them on social media are part of the data. Not only that, you can also get data about what we are looking for, contacts, habits, to our biodata from social media. 

3. Digitization of media

Before the internet was as popular as it is today, you may have used DVDs and CDs to watch videos. You must have, bro. with DVDs and CDs you won’t leave any digital footprint. 

But now you’re probably watching videos from Netflix, listening to songs from Spotify, both of which are sure to keep track of what you watch and listen to. That way they have data that can later be used to improve their services. 

4. Use of smartphones

Almost everyone has a smartphone which has a very large amount of data. The smartphone stores your SMS and telephone records. Not only that, the application that is on your cellphone must also be the same. For example, GPS will collect data related to your location. 

5. Smart devices

There are many kinds of smart devices, such as smart TVs, smart cars, smart fridges that can adjust their own needs. All of these items will store data, for example a smart fridge that regulates temperature with low power consumption so manufacturers can improve their services and offer the best technology for you. 

How Big Data Works

There are several levels in how big data works, among others:

1. Define a big data strategy

A big data strategy is a plan designed to help monitor and improve data operations within your business. You should also consider future business goals and initiatives.

2. Identify big data sources

You can identify where big data sources come from, for example social media data comes from interactions on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram or others

3. Manage data

To manage data properly, make sure you don’t forget the most important factors such as storing data. For those of you who have limited funds, of course cloud storage can be a solution. 

Jagoan Hosting provides an opportunity for you to increase your data storage capacity with the best offers from Cloud Object Storage products. With this product, you don’t need to buy other resources, so it’s more efficient and of course more economical, friend.

For only IDR 10,000 per month, you can enjoy 10GB capacity! Apart from that, you can get other benefits from this cheap cloud object storage such as apps integration, feels like local files, native HTTP/HTTPS, and CDN builds and web assets.

4. Data analysis

You must be able to model data using machine learning and AI so that it can be analyzed properly, and believe me you will find lots of input, insights and new discoveries for the progress of the company. 

5. Make decisions based on data

To stay competitive, businesses need to seize the full value of big data and operate in a way that makes decisions based on the evidence presented by big data rather than instinct. 

Tools for Developing Big Data

There are several tools used related to the use of big data. Some of the tools that you can try and use to develop big data are:

  1. Xplenty
  2. Pentaho
  3. Looker
  4. Knime
  5. Cassandra
  6. Tableau
  7. RapidMiner
  8. Skytree
  9. Domo
  10. six sense

Actually there are many other tools, but if you want more storage, cloud technology is quite recommended. Like using software from Google, BigTable which is cloud based.

Big Data Challenge

Some of the big data challenges are as follows:

1. Management is quite complicated

The first big data challenge is its quite complicated management. However, the latest technology has been able to help make the management process easier, it’s just that the development is quite rapid so that inappropriate platforms and infrastructure will become obstacles. 

2. The big data system must always be updated

The results of data development make updating big data mandatory, especially data that is irrelevant. However, to update data regularly, you need quite a lot of storage space.

3. Vulnerability of data security and privacy

Because it can be accessed by anyone, there will be security risks such as cyber crime. 

4. Lack of expert human resources

Finally, the big data challenge is the lack of human resources who are experts in this field. Big data cannot be processed manually because it will be less effective. Unfortunately, currently there is a shortage of expert human resources in the field of big data.

This is the discussion about what big data is, its characteristics, benefits, and examples of its application in everyday life. After reading it, it can be understood that our activities are not immune from big data. Especially if you are an online business person, adjusting hosting to data needs is very important.

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