IBM launches ‘Big Data’ analytics into the cloud

IBM’s InfoSphere arm is to launch a public cloud version of its BigInsights analysis software, normally deployed on-premise as a private cloud by enterprises.

Announced at Big Blue’s Information on Demand (IOD) global conference in Las Vegas, BigInsights will run on IBM’s SmartCloud infrastructure and be offered, as with the on-premise version, in Basic and Enterprise Editions.

BigInsights analyses both structured data found in conventional databases like its own DB2 offering, and unstructured data found in media content such as audio, social media, text and video.

The SmartCloud version is, like the on-premise versions, based on Apache Hadoop, an open-source project allowing distributed processing of massive data sets on computer clusters.

IBM claims the new cloud offering can be up and running in 30 minutes, helping users tap into large amounts of data from social networks, as well as mobile devices and sensors.

IBM said pricing starts at $0.60 per cluster, per hour, and both Basic and Enterprise versions have a developer sandbox for coding business analytics applications in a test and development environment.

To complement the cloud offering, IBM is also offering a new mobile analytics package for iPad users called IBM Cognos Mobile. Available from Apple's App Store, IBM Cognos Mobile gives mobile road warriors the ability to slant data analysis with location-aware analytics.

IBM has also launched SPSS Statistics 20.0 software, which includes a new mapping feature allowing firms to add location as a parameter into their analysis and reporting, giving users the ability to target, forecast, and plan by geographical areas.