“Above the Trend Line” – Your Industry Rumor Central for 4/25/2016

Above the Trend Line: machine learning industry rumor central, is a recurring feature of insideBIGDATA. In this column, we present a variety of short time-critical news items such as people movements, funding news, financial results, industry alignments, rumors and general scuttlebutt floating around the big data, data science and machine learning industries including behind-the-scenes anecdotes and curious buzz. Our intent is to provide our readers a one-stop source of late-breaking news to help keep you abreast of this fast-paced ecosystem. We’re working hard on your behalf with our extensive vendor network to give you all the latest happenings. Heard of something yourself? Tell us! Just e-mail me at: daniel@insidebigdata.com.  Be sure to Tweet Above the Trend Line articles using the hashtag: #abovethetrendline.

In funding news that serves to strengthen the real-time analytics ecosystem, MemSQL provider of a fast database platform for real-time analytics, announced it has closed its series C financing raising $36 million. The oversubscribed round includes new investors REV and Caffeinated Capital, as well as all existing investors Accel Partners, Khosla Ventures, Data Collective, IA Ventures, and First Round Capital. This latest MemSQL funding round brings the total amount raised to $85 million, accelerating the company’s mission to help the world’s largest companies meet new data processing demands so they can adapt and learn in real-time. MemSQL will use the funds to accelerate growth across the company including engineering, sales, support, and marketing. MemSQL continues to assemble a team of database and infrastructure experts delivering the most innovative approaches to real-time analytics … Offering some insight into the MemSQL funding and the in-memory database space is the following commentary from VoltDB’s President and CEO, Bruce Reading:

The in-memory database market is maturing at a rapid pace – investments like this float all in-memory boats. Organizations around the world need in-memory solutions to meet the speed demands of next-generation applications for sensor data and the Internet of Things. The tremendous opportunity of streaming data has increased demand for in-memory operational databases like VoltDB, that not only perform analytics and conduct transactions in milliseconds, but does so ensuring data is immediately consistent and always correct, a requirement for mission critical applications. For example, VoltDB powers mission-critical applications at a global 20 bank and several international telecommunications providers, where consistency is required to drive true business value. For many new IoT and real-time-driven applications, operational approaches to processing, analyzing and acting on real-time data deliver unmatched efficiency improvements.”

Here’s a tip for those wishing to kick-start themselves into the world of data science and programming with the SAS language: UK-based World Programing made its WPS industrial analytics and data science software available for free with the introduction of an Express Edition license. The WPS Express Edition is available for Windows and Mac OS X and includes all the features of the Standard Edition but with a restriction on the volume of data that can be processed and is not for production use. The license is for individuals, not companies, and can be used at home or at work. The Express Edition is ideal for anyone interested in learning to analyze data with industrial analytics tools but with zero financial outlay. Anyone can access the Express Edition, not just students. It will also benefit those who may use SAS language at work and want to learn more at home … Heard on the street that MarketShare, a Neustar Solution and global leader in advanced marketing analytics software, revealed it has been selected by  Audi UK to better understand its customers’ journeys and optimise its marketing spend. Using the holistic planning and attribution solution, MarketShare DecisionCloud, Audi will be able to fully understand the true value of each marketing activity as well as customer interaction, and predict the effectiveness of future marketing investments … And IoT keeps on its upward ascent with Teradata, the big data analytics and marketing applications company, disclosed the creation of its Global IoT Analytics unit within Teradata Labs, based in the United States, UK and India and focused on developing innovations to derive the greatest value from the Analytics of Things (AoT). The special-ops team of data scientists, data engineers and software designers are tasked with building new, cloud-based analytic solutions and services to simplify advanced analytics, data movement and database management for the Internet of Things … In C-suite news, a new exec joins CEO Gaurav Dhillon at SnapLogic, who’s going toe to toe with the giant he helped create (Informatica). Gaurav has an industry-proven leadership team, where a handful of execs from his Informatica era have gathered (VP Engineering, VP Product Management, VP Marketing, VP International Sales). Notice a trend? CEO Gaurav Dhillon was the founder and CEO of Informatica (SnapLogic’s top competitor), where he led the company from a startup idea to a global, public software company. Under his leadership, Informatica achieved a market cap that exceeded a billion dollars on the Nasdaq, and was referred to as “the Next Microsoft” … Another industry alignment has Mobify acquiring Pathful, a provider of machine learning-based technology for behavior-based targeting. Founded in 2011, Pathful helps retailers and B2B customers understand how visitors interact with content, capturing micro interactions on the web as well as with desktop and mobile devices to surface content that engages with customers and increases conversions. The technology is being integrated with Mobify’s Mobile Customer Engagement​ Platform. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed … Another industry alignment recognized that corralling the vast amounts of workplace data is the first step toward improved space utilization, energy efficiency, cost avoidance and improved employee satisfaction. As a leader in integrated facilities management, real estate data and portfolio analytics, JLL (NYSE:JLL) unveiled that it has strengthened its comprehensive suite of Smart Building solutions with a five-year, global integrated technology and services partnership with Enlighted, a leading provider of advanced sensor technology and Web-enabled visualization and analytic applications for commercial buildings … We’re seeing a number of industry pivots recently. The latest finds BIPB, a Keyrus Group company based in London and a specialist in Data Analytics, announcing that it is redefining its brand and taking the name Keyrus UK. It unveiled to its clients this new brand that inherits the logo and ‘Insight Into Value’ slogan of its parent company, and launches its brand new Website www.keyrus.co.uk. This rebranding strategy is part of BIPB’s growing development and maturity since it was acquired by the Keyrus Group in 2014. It also reflects Keyrus’s desire to bring its brands together under a common identity to further its reputation in all its markets, strengthen its leadership in Data and Digital internationally, and also ensure greater clarity in its business lines and offerings … Our friends over at DNV GL, a leading certification body, just published the results of a new big data survey polling nearly 1200 professionals across different industries showing that while more than half recognize the importance of big data, only a quarter is able to achieve productivity gains. 52% agree that big data represents an opportunity from a business point of view, while only 23% have a clear strategy. It is however evident that the topic is high on company agendas as 65% are planning for a future where big data plays a significant role, and 76 % plan to maintain or increase big data investments. Click HERE to download an infographic summarizing the survey results, or HERE for the full report … Rumor has it IT solutions provider Onix will be integrating Expert System’s Cogito cognitive computing technology into both its commercial and federal market portfolio of solutions — providing customers with far more data analytics and cognitive computing capabilities. The ability to cost effectively re-configures data environments while delivering rich and sophisticated metadata will represent a significant differentiator for both Onix and its customers … Just heard Cazena has just been named as one of Gartner’s 2016 Cool Vendors in DBMS, validating its vision for enterprise adoption of big data as a service (BDaaS). This Gartner report, coupled with Forrester’s naming BDaaS as an important new cloud category in its Q1 2016 TechRadar for Big Data report, confirms what Cazena CEO, Prat Moghe, has been predicting regarding the future of big data in the cloud:

Another trend that is getting increasing traction within the DBMS space is a demand for more efficient deployment and consumption of cloud-based services… Enter the concept of “big data as a service,” where vendors are combining components of analytic platforms in the cloud with multiple processing engines, hybrid on-premises integration, and secure data movement. The use of such services can speed up the adoption of analytics in the cloud, address skills shortages within the enterprise, and make it easier to transition from, and integrate with, existing on-premises investments.”

South Africa-headquartered technology company, Dimension Data, and leader in networking, Cisco, disclosed an initiative aimed at dramatically reducing the number of rhinos being poached in South Africa. The two companies have deployed some of the world’s most sophisticated technology in an unnamed private game reserve adjacent to the world-renowned Kruger National Park to monitor and track individuals from the time they enter the reserve gates, until they exit. The goal is to proactively intervene and stop people entering the reserve illegally – whether it’s cutting fences, being dropped onto the ground by helicopters, or simply driving in through the entrance gates.

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