Big Data Vendors To Watch In 2016

Pioneers Push Big Data Envelope

There are pioneers and there are supporters in the enormous information development. This gathering contains a bread cook's dozen pioneers. A few, similar to Amazon, Cloudera and 10Gen, were there at the beginning of the Hadoop and NoSQL developments. Others, as Hortonworks and Platfora, are newcomers, however draw on profound experience.

The three major subjects you'll discover in this accumulation are Hadoop development, NoSQL advancement and logical revelation. The Hadoop swarm incorporates Cloudera, HortonWorks and MapR, each of which is engaged completely on conveying this huge information stage to a more extensive base of clients by enhancing dependability, reasonability and execution. Cloudera and Hortonworks are enhancing access to information with their Impala and HCatalog activities, separately, while MapR's most recent push is enhancing HBase execution.

The NoSQL set is driven by 10Gen, Amazon, CouchBase, DataStax and Neo Technologies. These are the engineers and bolster suppliers behind MongoDB, DynamoDB, CouchBase, Cassandra and Neo4j, individually, which are the main record, cloud, key quality, segment and diagram databases.

Huge information explanatory revelation is still during the time spent being designed, and the pioneers here incorporate Datameer, Hadapt, Karmasphere, Platfora and Splunk. The initial four have contending dreams of how we'll investigate information in Hadoop, while the last spends significant time in machine-information examination.

What you won't discover here are old-watch merchants from the social database world. Without a doubt, some of those enormous name organizations have been quick supporters. A few even have programming disseminations and have included imperative abilities. Yet, are their hearts truly in it? At times, you get the feeling that their endeavors are window dressing. There are personal stakes - to be specific permit income - in staying with business as usual, so you simply don't see them out there forcefully offering something that could very well dislodge their money dairy animals. In different cases, their omnipresent connectors to Hadoop appear like frantic ploys for some huge information cachet.

For some clients, the key issues incorporate adaptability, speed and convenience. Furthermore, it isn't clear that any single item or administration can offer those capacities right now.

10Gen Scales Up Developer-Friendly Mongo DB 

10Gen is the engineer and business bolster supplier behind open source MongoDB. Among six NoSQL databases highlighted in this gathering (alongside DynamoDB, Cassandra, HBase, CouchBase and Neo Technologies), MongoDB is recognized as the main report situated database. All things considered it can deal with semi-organized data encoded in JSON (Java Script Object Notation), XML or other record positions. The huge fascination is adaptability, speed and usability, as you can rapidly grasp new information without the inflexible mappings and information changes required by social databases.

Amazon Covers All Big-Data Bases
Amazon is about as big a big data practitioner as you can get. It's also the leading big data services provider. For starters, it introduced Elastic MapReduce (EMR) more than three years ago. Based on Hadoop, EMR isn't just a service for MapReduce sand boxes; it's being used for day-to-day high-scale production data processing by businesses including Ticketmaster and DNA researcher Ion Flux.

Amazon Web Services upped the big data ante in 2012 with two new services: Amazon DynamoDB, a NoSQL database service, and Amazon Redshift, a scalable data warehousing service now in preview and set for release early next year.

Cloudera Addresses Hadoop Analytics Gap
Cloudera is the #1 provider of Hadoop software, training and commercial support. From this position of strength, Cloudera has sought to advance the manageability, reliability and usability of the platform.

During 2012, the discussion turned from convincing the broad corporate market that Hadoop is a viable platform to convincing people that they can gain value from the masses of data on a cluster. But to do that, we'll need to get past one of Hadoop's biggest flaw: the slow, batch-oriented nature of MapReduce processing. Tackling the problem head on, Cloudera has introduced Impala, an interactive-speed SQL query engine that runs on the existing Hadoop infrastructure. Two years in development and now in beta, Impala promises to make all the data in the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and Apache HBase database tables accessible for real-time querying. Unlike Apache Hive, which offers a degree of SQL querying of Hadoop, Impala is not dependent on MapReduce processing, so it should be much faster.

DynamoDB, the service, is based on Dynamo, the NoSQL database that Amazon developed and deployed in 2007 to run big parts of its massive consumer website. Needless to say, it's proven at high scale. Redshift has yet to be generally available, but Amazon is promising ten times faster performance than conventional relational databases at one-tenth the cost of on-premises data warehouses. With costs as low as $1,000 per terabyte, per year, there's no doubt Redshift will see adoption.

These three services are cornerstones for exploiting big data, and don't forget Amazon's scalable S3 storage, EC2 compute capacity and myriad integration and connection options for corporate data centers. In short, Amazon has been a big data pioneer, and its services appeal to more than just startups, SMBs and Internet businesses.

THE BEST BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOLS:

Business intelligence tools (BI tools) are a way for companies to monitor data and generate business insights – necessary components in making smarter, better decisions that drive results. But once you start research BI, you realize there are many types, from analytics and big data statistics to reporting tools and dashboards that offer at-a-glance information across indicators.

When choosing the right business intelligence tools for your organization, consider your company, your employees, your departments and teams – and the success factors that drive your decision-making. What isn’t working currently, and what factors would benefit from improvement?

Select tools that allow you to visualize and analyze relevant data, combining and eliminating and customizing to generate information that helps you better understand your data. The goal: to make fact-based and insightful decisions that will improve company performance.

1. YELLOWFIN BI

Yellowfin BI offers business intelligence tools that are so easy to use, they become universal throughout a company. Yellowfin’s analytics are available in many different flavors – dashboards, data discovery, mobile BI, storyboards, mapping, and collaborative business intelligence – that make it simple to assess, monitor and understand any bit of data related to your business.

Features:

• Interactive and intuitive filtering use check boxes, radio buttons and sliders to make it easy to dial-down your data
• Access your dashboards from anywhere: web page, company intranet, wiki, or mobile device
• Share insights via simple scripts that can be uploaded, embedded, or sent to collaborators

Cost: Free Trial; full version starting at $3,000 a year for 5 users

2. CLEAR ANALYTICS

If you’re familiar with MS Excel, you’ll love Clear Analytics. This Excel-based BI tool serves up business intelligence with spreadsheet manageability – and centralizes all your data in the process. Clear Analytics allows your organization to continue with its business-as-usual Excel reporting, but adds BI must-haves like version control, administrative and sharing capabilities, reports scheduling, governance, and auditability.

Features:

• With the Logical Data Warehouse (LDW) approach, Clear Analytics eliminates the need for a data warehouse to pre-aggregate data
• Little learning curve: anyone who uses MS Excel can use Clear Analytics
• Easy to trace and audit data, on ensure company-wide compliance

Cost: Free Personal Edition

3. SAP BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

For businesses that require a full, detailed picture of every company process, SAP NetWeaver BI steps in. This full-function tool is designed to cater to a diverse set of needs, satisfying the requirements of everyone in your organization – IT professionals, senior management, and end users included. The tool’s robust infrastructure hosts wide-ranging functionality in one integrated platform.

Features:

• A single, integrated platform pulls together applications and reporting to provide a detailed snapshot of your organization
• Visualization makes it easy to understand your data
• Improve your company’s collective IQ by giving all collaborators insights into data and performance indictors

Cost: Free Trial; contact for pricing

4. ORACLE HYPERION SYSTEM

Oracle is one of the most well known names in business, and its Hyperion Planning system is an agile business intelligence tool. Using mobile, desktop and MS Office Interfaces, Hyperion supports and enables enterprise-wide planning, budgeting and forecasting – mission-critical processes a company needs to develop accurate financial forecasts and generate cost-effective enterprise alignment.

Features:

• Deploy Hyperion independently, either in the cloud or on-site
• Integrate Hyperion with other Oracle tools to create a robust and over-arching business solution
• Reduce budgeting and planning by days, weeks or months, depending on the process

Cost: Contact for pricing

5. ORACLE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ENTERPRISE EDITION (OBIEE)

For businesses with serious BI needs, OBIEE is an incredibly powerful business intelligence tool. The Enterprise Edition integrates many of Oracle’s most useful components, including BI Server, BI Answers, BI Interactive Dashboards, BI Delivers, BI Publisher, the MS Office Plug-in, Hyperion Interactive Reporting, Hyperion SQR Production Reporting, Hyperion Financial Reporting, and Hyperion Web Analysis. In other words, for almost any conceivable data measurement, visualization, reporting, or information manipulation, OBIEE has a solution.

Features:

• Comprehensive BI tools inform and inspire better decisions across your organization
• OBIEE allows for full collaboration within an organization
• Interactive dashboards make reporting and data visualization simple

Cost: Contact for pricing

6. PENTAHO BI

The leader in open-source business intelligence, Pentaho provides your company with the tools to make better, more accurate and faster decisions to boost profits. The tool integrates information from almost any source to create comprehensive analytics, turning big data into visualized insights. Pentaho Business Intelligence can be used on-site or in the cloud.

Features:

• Embed and integrate analytics into your company’s applications
• Intuitive and interactive analytics employ lasso filtering, zooming, attribute highlighting and drill-down features to provide better insights
• Web-based dashboards access rich navigation features to improve data visualization

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

7. MICROSTRATEGY

MicroStrategy Business Intelligence has one primary goal: leverage data to help organizations find timely, informed answers to any question. Powerful dashboards and data analytics transform your company’s information into easy-to-understand reports designed to improve productivity, boost cost-efficiency, optimize revenue, monitor trends, forecast new opportunities, and fortify client relationships.

Features:

• MicroStrategy runs against data stored in ERP systems (e.g. SAP and Oracle), operational databases, and data warehouses
• Use MicroStrategy on your desktop or via mobile app
• Save data on-site or in the cloud via Amazon Web Services

Cost: Free 30-Day Enterprise Evaluation Edition

8. SISENSE

Sisense is a business intelligence tool that aims to enable business users to easily prepare, analyze and visualize complex data. The software is mainly focused on user-friendliness and high performance for organizations that work with large or diverse datasets, and provides a single-stack solution for integrating many disparate data sources, performing queries and displaying results in interactive dashboards.

Features:

• End-to-end business intelligence for non-techies with little to no IT involvement required
• ETL and data preparation to integrate many disparate cloud and on-premise sources
• Interactive BI dashboards with a wide range of data visualization options

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for version pricing

9. BOARD ALL-IN-ONE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

BOARD’s AIO Business Intelligence toolkit offers all the capabilities and functions necessary to build a custom solution to corporate performance management. Bonus: no programming skills required. The toolkit approach makes it easy for end-users to interact with BOARD’s powerful interface, creating a self-service solution to analytics, reporting and understanding data. BOARD labels this integrated BI-performance management solution as “management Intelligence.”

Features:

• BI functions include reporting, multi-dimensional analysis, ad hoc querying and “dashBOARDing”
• Corporate performance management allows for budgeting, planning, financial forecasting, profitability analysis, scorecarding and financial consolidation
• BOARD is a single interface, thus eliminating the usual complications from forcibly patching together multiple BI tools

Cost: Free Demo; Contact for pricing

10. MICROSOFT BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE TOOLS

Like BOARD, Microsoft’s BI solutions are billed as tools that require little IT involvement. The premise: if your employees know how to use Microsoft Office or Microsoft SharePoint Server, then they’ll intuitively understand MS Business Intelligence. This full-service solution is quite powerful, integrating data from multiple sources to combine with current enterprise data that lives on-site or in the cloud – all while maintaining proper governance.

Features:

• MS BI allows any user to drill-down, analyze and visualize data through Excel
• Enable report-sharing and other collaborative features
• Self-service capabilities that reduce the burden on IT

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

11. JASPERSOFT

Billed as one of the business world’s most used, most flexible and most affordable BI solutions, Jaspersoft empowers your organization with tools for better analytics and decision-making. This is a self-service product, which means that it requires little IT intervention to generate powerful data insights that help your organization create actionable answers to any question.

Features:

• Can be integrated into any app or mobile device – scaled architecture that makes Jaspersoft available to anyone
• Available on-premise or in the cloud
• Download for your device, or use as a web-scalable platform to embed anywhere

Cost: Free Trial; Contact for pricing

12. QLIKVIEW

QlikView is a user-friendly platform that straddles the gap between tech-savvy BI tools and traditional productivity apps, creating a solution that’s available to all. QlikView’s primary goal is to enable business users to leverage their data to discover new solutions and opportunities, and it does so with a clean and straightforward interface.

Features:

• This self-service tool allows for data analytics, insights and existing data manipulation
• Visually appealing dashboards present data in an easy-to-understand format
• Customized solutions by industry (banking, consumer products, high tech, insurance, etc.)

Cost: Free Personal Version; Enterprise Edition Server starting at $35,000 per server

13. SAS BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

SAS Business Intelligence is all about getting the right information to the right people, always at the right time and under the right circumstances. This self-service tool is easy to use and provides real-time analytics throughout your organization, allowing any collaborator or decision-maker to monitor and analyze the metrics necessary to make an informed and effective decision.

Features:

• Business and enterprise IT solutions include centralized metadata, governance and scalability
• Data visualization makes it easy to see and understand big data and related insights
• Auto-charting eliminates the need for coding and IT support

Cost: Free trial; contact for pricing

14. BIME

The power of BIME is the ability to turn complicated data into visual insights and actionable information – results designed to power your decision-making and boost your bottom line. BIME is cloud-based, turning your company Internet connection into a lightening-fast data warehouse capable of churning out easy-to-understand visual dashboards. A self-service tool, anyone can use this BI solution.

Features:

• Easily import data from relational databases, spreadsheets, flat files, OLAP engines, Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Google BigQuery, Salesforce CRM, Google Spreadsheets and other sources
• Ultra secure BI extranet and intranet is included in every package
• A powerful calculation engine allows users to create analytics across – and combining – data sources

Cost: Free Trial; Enterprise solutions starting at $180 per month

15. INTELEX BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

The Intelex Business Performance Management Software System is a user-friendly, effective and very powerful business tool that integrates several solutions into one robust package. Among the solution’s various functions, this software suite combines tools for document control, records management, training management, qualifications management, audits management, NCRs and CAPA, management review, permits management, license management, monitoring and measurement, communications management, and operational control.

Features:

• Trusted since 1992
• Easily track, manage and generate real-time reports of key metrics
• Comply with common regulations and standards, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001

Business intelligence

Business insight (BI) disentangles data revelation and investigation, settling on it feasible for chiefs at all levels of an association to all the more effectively get to, comprehend, break down, work together, and follow up on data, whenever and anyplace. This definition for BI shows that customary expert driven BI applications have advanced to incorporate various activities to gauge, oversee, and enhance the execution of people, procedures, groups, and specialty units. Consequently, Microsoft conveys BI instruments that can give each representative access to the information required to settle on educated choices and that have the adaptability to work the way they do.

Over the span of business, the accompanying inquiries must be inquired. The elements of checking, breaking down, and arranging dive into these inquiries.

What has happened?

What is going on?

Why?

What will happen?

What would we like to have happen?

Business Ingelligence (BI) - innovation framework for increasing most extreme data from accessible information with the end goal of enhancing business forms. Run of the mill BI foundation segments are as per the following: programming answer for social event, purging, incorporating, investigating and sharing information. Business Intelligence produces examination and gives authentic data to help making successful and superb business choices.

The most widely recognized sorts of Business Intelligence frameworks are:

EIS - Executive Information Systems

DSS - Decision Support Systems

MIS - Management Information Systems

GIS - Geographic Information Systems

OLAP - Online Analytical Processing and multidimensional investigation

CRM - Customer Relationship Management

Business Intelligence frameworks taking into account Data Warehouse innovation. A Data Warehouse(DW) accumulates data from an extensive variety of organization's operational frameworks, Business Intelligence frameworks in light of it. Information stacked to DW is normally great incorporated and cleaned that permits to create tenable data which reflected supposed 'one rendition of the genuine'.

Business intelligence (BI) represents the tools and systems that play a key role in the strategic planning process within a corporation. These BI systems allow a company to gather, store, access and analyze corporate data to aid in decision-making. Generally these systems will illustrate business intelligence in the areas of customer profiling, customer support, market research, market segmentation, product profitability, statistical analysis, and inventory and distribution analysis to name a few.

Keeping Track of Business Data

Most companies collect a large amount of data from their business operations. To keep track of that information, a business and would need to use a wide range of software programs, such as Excel, Access and different database applications for various departments throughout their organization. Using multiple software programs makes it difficult to retrieve information in a timely manner and to perform analysis of the data.

Business Intelligence Software

Business intelligence software is designed with the primary goal of extracting important data from an organization's raw data to reveal insights to help a business make faster and more accurate decisions. The software typically integrates data from across the enterprise and provides end-users with self-service reporting and analysis. BI software uses a number of analytics features including statistics, data and text mining and predictive analytics to reveal patterns and turn information into insights.

Big Data and Business Intelligence

Big Data is used most extensively today with business intelligence and analytics applications and a number of BI vendors have moved to launch new tools that support Hadoop. For example, SAP offers connectors to Hadoop for SAP BI and Business Objects. According to EnterpriseAppsToday, BI vendor support for big data is typically in at least one of two ways:

Abbreviated as BA, business analytics is the combination of skills, technologies, applications and processes used by organizations to gain insight in to their business based on data and statistics to drive business planning. Business analytics is used to evaluate organization-wide operations, and can be implemented in any department from sales to product development to customer service.

Business analytics solutions typically use use data, statistical and quantitative analysis and fact-based data to measure past performance to guide an organization's business planning.

Business Intelligence software

Business Intelligence software, also called BI software, is software that is designed to analyze business data to better understand an organization's strengths and weaknesses. Business intelligencesoftware allows an organization's management to better see the relationship between different data for better decision-making and optimal deployment of resources. Business Intelligence software plays a key role in the strategic planning process of the corporation.

predictive analytics

Predictive analytics is the practice of extracting information from existing data sets in order to determine patterns and predict future outcomes and trends.  Predictive analytics does not tell you what will happen in the future. It forecasts what might happen in the future with an acceptable level of reliability, and includes what-if scenarios and risk assessment.

Predictive Models and Analysis Applied to Business

Predictive models and analysis are typically used to forecast future probabilities. Applied to business, predictive models are used to analyze current data and historical facts in order to better understand customers, products and partners and to identify potential risks and opportunities for a company. It uses a number of techniques, including data mining, statistical modeling and machine learning to help analysts make future business forecasts.

Converged infrastructure

Met foundation works by gathering numerous data innovation (IT) parts into a solitary, advanced figuring bundle. Parts of a merged base might incorporate servers, information stockpiling gadgets, organizing hardware and programming for IT framework administration, robotization and arrangement.

IT associations use met foundation to bring together the administration of IT assets, to combine frameworks, to expand asset usage rates, and to lower expenses. Met foundations cultivate these destinations by actualizing pools of PCs, stockpiling and systems administration assets that can be shared by different applications and oversaw in an aggregate way utilizing strategy driven procedures.


Met framework (CI) is a way to deal with server farm administration that tries to minimize similarity issues between servers, stockpiling frameworks and system gadgets while likewise lessening costs for cabling, cooling, power and floor space. A joined framework can be actualized with a CI reference engineering, with standalone machines or with a product driven hyper-met approach.

With an IT apparatus way to deal with CI, the seller furnishes the client with a solitary box that houses firmly coordinated process, stockpiling, organizing virtualization assets from the merchant and maybe the seller's accomplices. Should the need emerge, extra apparatuses can be bought and included, an idea known as even versatility.

With a hyper-met approach, the merchant abstracts figure, systems administration and capacity assets from the physical equipment, packaging virtualization programming with their CI offerings. Hyper-merged merchants might likewise give extra usefulness to cloud blasting or fiasco recuperation and permit executives to oversee both physical and virtual frameworks - whether on location or in the cloud - in a united way with a solitary sheet of glass.
There's truly no inquiry that the present day association is evolving. New sorts of client requests are driving bases to move how they convey assets and bolster applications. What's most intriguing is the shift far from conventional server farm innovations that have upheld business capacities for so long. Try not to misunderstand me, there will at present be a spot for conventional servers, stockpiling, and notwithstanding organizing advancements.

Be that as it may, more clients are requesting different options for the process, stockpiling, and systems administration they have today. As an immediate aftereffect of mechanical advancement we've seen another type of equipment effect the business sector. Business of all sizes are particularly requesting less moving parts, while as yet conveying more assets to their clients. Thus the idea of a joined and brought together stage was conceived. Today's discussion will rotate around really characterizing joining and taking a touch of the showcasing out of a portion of the perplexity. Where does capacity assume a part? At the point when is it just register? Shouldn't something be said about distributed computing and coordination? What are some real utilize cases behind these sorts of advances? How about we examine meeting as it applies to network, stockpiling, process, and the cloud.

Conventional capacity is characterized by a controller with a rack of racks containing plate. This can be SSD or HDD clusters. Merged capacity is somewhat diverse, obviously. This sort of engineering uproots a considerable measure of moving parts and unites segments into an exceedingly repetitive hub based capacity stage. Everything in one box, scaled out with more hubs as required. These sorts of arrangements are worked around limit, execution, and advancement. They land in an assortment of sizes as all-glimmer and half and half exhibits. There are numerous utilization cases too. We should accept that you as of now have a system and process stage. Nonetheless, you need to send an alternate sort of capacity for an arrangement of virtual desktops. Rather than obtaining another rack, you choose to offload that workloads to a merged stockpiling framework. For this sort of undertaking, it may be less costly, simpler to oversee, has better combination, and can address the issues of the business for the predictable .

Brought together Architecture

This is more of a customary engineering approach with a couple turns. In spite of the fact that as a rule system, stockpiling, and figure are still separate segments in a bound together engineering outline, they're all straightforwardly associated through a capable fabric backplane. This is unquestionably awesome for a bigger venture or server farm supplier. This sort of design can scale numerous body over various areas. Use cases for this include the need to send a server farm stage which is using the same merchant over various equipment advancements. This is awesome for approach control, workload conveyance, and obviously security. Be that as it may, against a percentage of the more current arrangements out there, this sort of design can be more costly. Still, you do get what you pay for.

Focalized Infrastructure

Presently we start to characterize a percentage of the more up to date patterns. Taking showcasing terms out, united base is the blend of capacity and figure on one physical machine. Yes, systems administration is coordinated to some degree, however this is typically however a hypervisor. There isn't normally a systems administration bit of equipment included. Here is the place a percentage of the disarray happens. Now and again, brought together design is in some cases exchanged with merged framework. Be that as it may, a great approach to take a gander at it is brought together design involves the greater range of server farm innovations like system, stockpiling, and figure. Then again, merged foundation is normally just capacity and figure. These sorts of stages are little, effective, and dynamic as far as pertinent use cases. Moreover, we start to present ideas around programming characterized innovations. Focalized framework permits you to coordinate with hypervisor advances and dynamic administrations as they incorporate with the fundamental physical engineering. One use case is a particular virtual application conveyance venture. On the off chance that, suppose, you dispatch another branch area with a couple of hundred clients, you require that area to have locally open assets for virtual applications and a couple facilitated desktops. Rather than a conventional server and capacity design, you convey a multi-hub merged framework to meet business requests. You can spare time with arrangement, costs for conveying a less costly stage, and disentangle administration by bringing together server farm controls.

Hyper (Ultra) Converged Infrastructure

Presently we get to my most loved part. This is the fate of focalized framework and, ostensibly, the conceivable fate of server farm asset plan. Much like united framework, hyper-merging takes the methodology from a product point of view. This is the place a couple of new server farm ideas develop. In particular, the discussion around thing, without vanity, frameworks, and in addition Open Compute Project-based plans. In this situation, the product controls ALL assets living on top of the hypervisor. Through APIs and its own VM interpretation advances hyper (ultra) united frameworks can be sent on ANY bit of equipment and any sort of hypervisor. Envision having the capacity to fundamentally make your own particular joined framework stage by just sending the overlying programming that will offer you some assistance with managing stockpiling and in addition process. Moreover, on the off chance that you have a second area running an alternate hypervisor, the merging programming is sufficiently canny to interpret the VMs from one hypervisor to the next. For whatever length of time that you meet the basic equipment prerequisites, you can send hyper-union on sharp edges, rack-mount servers, or whatever puts forth your utilization defense generally effective. Through APIs, you can promote coordinate with open cloud segments, incorporate with different hypervisors, and amplify your server farm a long ways past a private design. Next, you can incorporate computerization and coordination controls, cross-stage, to add to a really intense cutting edge server farm and cloud model.

The eventual fate of the server farm and cloud model will take into account more imagination on both the equipment and programming side of innovation. We'll have the capacity to better incorporate assets with effective APIs and interconnect cloud parts with private, open, and half and half cloud stages. Step one, nonetheless, is understanding that there are significantly a larger number of alternatives than simply conventional server farm server, figure, and capacity stages. Presently, you have the capacity to portion whole workloads all alone segregated bit of physical framework. You can broaden workloads cross-hypervisor while as yet making a deft cloud environment. The greater part of this is driven by new business requests and innovation's push to keep up.

Monitoring Your Infrastructure's Performance

Companies such as Advance Auto Parts and Visa maintain their edge by knowing how their IT infrastructures are performing, including virtual components.

By Tony Kontzer

Sometime in late June, lightning struck one of Advance Auto Parts' two main data centers. It fried the cards in the primary and backup routers that served as the facility's link to the outside world, and interrupted the processing of replenishment orders needed to restock the company's 4,000-plus auto parts stores.

While the incident could have proved crippling, Advance was able to have the data center back up within an hour, and the replenishment orders were processed as scheduled. The quick recovery can be attributed to the company's attention to a rarely talked-about, yet critical, technology

Companies such as Advance Auto Parts and Visa maintain their edge by knowing how their IT infrastructures are performing, including virtual components.

By Tony Kontzer

Sometime in late June, lightning struck one of Advance Auto Parts' two main data centers. It fried the cards in the primary and backup routers that served as the facility's link to the outside world, and interrupted the processing of replenishment orders needed to restock the company's 4,000-plus auto parts stores.

While the incident could have proved crippling, Advance was able to have the data center back up within an hour, and the replenishment orders were processed as scheduled. The quick recovery can be attributed to the company's attention to a rarely talked-about, yet critical, technology

It should come as no surprise that infrastructure monitoring is a big deal for the company, given the scope of Advance's operation: The two data centers support 11 huge distribution centers (each of which covers more than 1 million square feet and has its own small data center), numerous sub-distribution centers and an exhaustive network of stores.

Advance relies on multiple monitoring tools to keep tabs on its varied environment. Software from SolarWinds helps the company keep an eye on its network infrastructure performance; Riverbed keeps it apprised of data traffic flows; OpNet (which Riverbed acquired late last year) tells Advance what its data traffic actually consists of; and a variety of Microsoft tools monitor the firm's virtual infrastructure components.

"We are pretty heavily invested in end-to-end monitoring," says Paine. The company's monitoring tools keep Paine and his team abreast of everything from bandwidth congestion and the status of switches and routers to network latency and application performance—all the way down to the store level.

Though monitoring grows more complicated as Advance adds an average of 200 stores a year, Paine says that expanding the monitoring footprint to accommodate growth shouldn't be painful.

"It's an evolutionary process; it has to grow with the demands of the business," he says. "It shouldn't be an intrusive, burdensome task."

Try telling that to the many companies that have struggled to decide which monitoring tools to use. Colin Fletcher, a research director for IT consultancy Gartner, says such companies have found themselves torn between tools designed to perform very specific functions—such as server monitoring—and those that handle broader monitoring of infrastructure components.

Now, says Fletcher, vendors with broader tools are trying to support more narrow needs, while those focused on specific technologies are trying to broaden their capabilities.

"It's leaving most organizations caught in the middle in trying to figure out the best paths for themselves," he says, noting that because the broader tools don't handle the specialized tasks as well, many companies opt for a multivendor environment similar to what Advance has put in place.

Developing Its Own Technologies

Then there are those companies that have decided that the market can't provide anything they can't do better themselves. That's the situation of Visa, which has built out its infrastructure over decades, often developing its own technologies for managing and monitoring that infrastructure in-house.

For example, the company uses its own proprietary system, called Vital Signs, to monitor its high-performance processing environments to assess performance. With 10,000 transactions typically running through its network—VisaNet—simultaneously, ensuring peak performance is tantamount to protecting itself, credit card issues and merchants from unacceptable risk.

Automobile Engineering

Automobile Engineering

We are surrounded by machines. From the time we wake up to the time we doze off, there is a continuous operation of machines. We purchase various kinds of machines to enhance our life and lifestyle. One machine that best defines our personality and status is the automobile that we own.

What is Automobile Engineering? 

Automobile Engineering is a branch of engineering which deals with designing, manufacturing and operating automobiles. It is a segment of vehicle engineering which deals with motorcycles, buses, trucks, etc. It includes mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety elements.

Skills Required:

• Artistic
• Creative
• Technical knowledge
• Effective planner
• Precision
• Meticulous
• Systematic
• Punctual
• Team worker

What are the Entrance Exams to be taken to get admission in Automobile Engineering course?

The automobile engineering career option is fast paced and very creative. It is one of the most preferred careers by engineers. Thus students vie for a seat in the following entrance exams.

List of Colleges Offering Masters in Automobile Engineering Programs

A master's degree program in automotive engineering offers advanced study of the function, mechanical workings and production of automobiles. These programs may be specifically in automotive engineering or in mechanical engineering programs that offer an automotive concentration. A master's degree typically takes 2 years to complete.

How to Select a Master's Program in Automotive Engineering

Although mechanical engineering programs offer relevant material, there is a greater amount of automotive coursework included in a master's degree specifically in automotive engineering. Some programs offer concentrations in areas such as electric power systems or electronic control systems. Importantly, online programs are available, enabling students to continue working while completing degree requirements.

Consider the following when looking for an master's degree program in automotive engineering:

• Concentration Options- Does the degree offer areas of concentration, such as hybrid electric cars, that interest you?
• Distance Learning Opportunities- Night classes or online learning make it possible to complete the degree while continuing to work.
• Practical Experience Opportunities- Internships are useful for gaining real-world experience as well as building connections and establishing possible employment opportunities in the field.

Automobile Engineering Program Overview

Master's Degree in Automobile Engineering

Students can find master's degree programs in automotive engineering or focus on the field of study through a mechanical engineering program. A master's degree can typically be earned in two years. The degree often qualifies graduates to work in a number of positions in the automotive industry, including design engineering, management or technology research. A thesis, internship or capstone experience might be required. Coursework includes:

• Mechanical and thermal design
• Internal combustion
• Manufacturing
• Business management
• Automotive electronics

Some Schools to Consider

College/University	Institution Type
Lawrence Technological University	4-year, Private
University of Michigan	4-year, Public
Michigan Technological University	4-year, Public
Ohio State University	4-year, Public
University of California Davis	4-year, Public
Clemson University	4-year, Public
Rochester Institute of Technology	4-year, Private
Georgia Institute of Technology	4-year, Public
Kettering University (GM Institute)	4-year, Private
University of Texas	4-year, Public

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Computer Games Technology

Developed in consultation with the games industry, our computer games technology degree focuses heavily on programming and combines in-depth academic knowledge with the practical skills that employers are looking for in computer scientists , games developers and games designers.

We work closely with companies such as Microsoft, Sony  and  Kwalee, as well as with our fast-growing, local independent game studios which are within a few minutes walk from our City Centre Campus.

What's covered in the course?

On this course, you’ll have the opportunity to study an enviable range of disciplines that include the production of both entertainment and educational ‘serious games’.

We have worked closely with the games industry to develop a comprehensive course that covers the essential subject areas for anyone wanting to work in the sector: computer programming, ‘coding’ and basic programming, as well as the concepts behind game engine development, working with game consoles and associated hardware.

As part of your studies, you will have the opportunity to work with both 2D and 3D game worlds, to learn how to programme game engines, work with augmented and virtual reality and study  mobile technologies, graphics programming and artificial intelligence.

Associated with the curriculum is the opportunity for students from all years to participate in internationally recognised game development competitions, for example Global Game Jam and the Microsoft Imagine Cup, which is one of the world’s premier technology competitions.  This gives you the chance to showcase your technical and creative skills to a wider audience. Our students have twice gone on to represent the university at the national finals  of the Microsoft Imagine Cup, an extremely  prestigious contest that sees an incredibly high quality of entries.

The course also prepares you for life in the real world, so you’ll learn how to work effectively as a team player, and develop skills in evaluating and communicating information effectively both verbally and in a written form. Several modules use a work-based learning approach to equip you with the skills needed to work as part of game development teams.

As part of the real-world preparation, you will also have the chance take part in a year-long work placement in the games and associated industries and we have a dedicated placement office who can help you find a suitable post. Having industry experience can really help to boost your CV.

Throughout your course, you’ll receive the support of expert teaching staff, all of who are authorities in their industry, having worked in computer science and software development. We have internationally recognised research and practice based interests which include applying computer games technology to  healthcare, engineering and the built environment.

I enjoy spending time with my new found colleagues during and after class. I find working as a team to be a great and enjoyable experience thanks to them. Radu Dumitriu

Why Choose Us?

• We are home to both a Cisco and Microsoft Academy –one of Microsoft’s top UK university-based academies – and we are a member of the Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance. We are also part of Sony’s PlayStation First academic programme.

• We have strong links with Birmingham’s independent games industry, which has enabled us to organise many internship and graduate opportunities for our students. We are actively involved with many of their professional ‘LAUNCH’ game events, as well as working with several companies to promote and educate the next generation of game developers.   

• The School is based at Millennium Point, part of the state-of-the-art City Centre campus, which has outstanding resources and facilities, including a dedicated games studio with specialist game development software.

• The course involves project-based learning, which enables you to work in teams while developing games and solving technical problems – as you would in the workplace.

• You have the opportunity to work with programmers, artists and sound engineers to reflect professional practice.

You can study the production of entertainment as well as educational ‘serious games’.

Entry Requirements

We accept a range of qualifications, the most popular of which are detailed below.

UK students

Essential
At the point of application, you must have GCSE at Grade C or above in English Language and Mathematics. Equivalent qualifications will be accepted.
280 UCAS tariff points from A/AS Level with a minimum of 2 A Levels
Typical Offers
UK Qualification	Requirements 2016/17
GCE A Level/ AS Level	BBC at A Level or 280 UCAS tariff points from A/AS Level with a minimum of 2 A Levels, at least one from a Science, Technology, Mathematics or Computing subject.
Access to Higher Education Diploma	Pass overall with 60 credits, 45 at Level 3 and 15 at Level 2, including with a minimum of 12 credits achieved from any Technology units awarded at Merit or Distinction
BTEC National Diploma (12-units not including early years)	D*D* or combined with other level 3 qualifications to achieve a minimum total of 280 UCAS points
BTEC Extended Diploma (18-units not including early years)	DMM - 280 UCAS points
BTEC Subsidiary Diploma/ National Award (6-units not including early years)	Combined with other level 3 qualifications to achieve a minimum total of 280 UCAS points
BTEC Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art and Design	Distinction
International Baccalaureate Diploma	30 points overall
Irish Leaving Certificate	280 UCAS points - Higher Levels
Scottish Higher/ Advanced Higher	280 UCAS points
Welsh Baccalaureate (core plus options)	120 tariff points combined with other level 3 qualifications to achieve a minimum total of 280 UCAS points
Other qualifications
If you have a qualification that is not listed in the table please refer to our full entry requirements on UCAS. Further guidance on tariff points can be found on the UCAS website.

EU/International students

Essential
EU/Non-EU (International) Qualifications	Requirements 2015/16
IELTS	6.0 overall with 5.5 minimum in all bands
International Baccalaureate Diploma (or equivalent, including internationally accredited Foundation courses).	30 points overall Country-specific entry requirements and qualifications.

International students who cannot meet the direct entry requirements can begin their degree studies at Birmingham City University International College (BCUIC).

Additional Requirements

As part of the application process you will be invited to attend an applicant visit day where you will undertake a short one-to-one interview with an academic member of staff. This is your chance to show us how passionate you are about the subject and it will help us make a decision on your application.

This will provide you with more information about the Faculty and your course. In addition, it will give you a chance to meet and our staff and students to gain a better understanding of what it is like to be a student here.

We think it’s important that you are assessed in a number of different ways during your Computer Games Technology BSc (Hons) studies. These will include  continuous assessment, in-class tests, examinations, laboratory exercises and project work. 

The bulk of your assessments – 70 per cent  – will be via coursework, with 30 per cent being assessed by formal examination.

You will also benefit from industry-led events, on areas such as quality assurance and play-testing, and guest speakers throughout your studies, which give you an additional and valuable dimension to your learning.

This course focuses on computer programming, a skill that is in high demand in the computer games industry.You will start by studying the C# programming language in the first year and move on to C++, the industry standard language, in the second and third years.

You will learn to make games from first principles through to the underlying technologies used in game engine design and you’ll also acquire a range of other computer science skills,as well asmaths and physics-based skills,which are applicable to other areas of IT.

Course breakdown

The course comprises five main themes:

 Business

This theme aims to give you an understanding of market-led innovation planning and management. It also develops your team working skills.

Toolbox

This focuses on the analytical skills you will need for a career in computer game development.

Computer Technologies

You focus on computer hardware and software, as well as the distribution of data through computer networks with applications to mobile computing. There are further elements associated with operating systems and programming.

Game Development

As part of this theme, you examine game design concepts, and the processes involved in developing and implementing games that are widely used in industry standard game engines.

Game Programming

This offers an introduction to games programming, together with an understanding of performance and optimisation issues with respect to graphics and audio.