Big Data for all

In addition to the Cloud Computing is Big Data the dominant hype topic. While the Cloud Computing is already relatively far, one makes around Big Data is largely ignored. Although there are some special applications and infrastructure components for the collection and intelligent analysis of mass data, a lot still needs to be researched, developed and built: Tools and processes, for example, or usable and affordable standard solutions - to turn "Big Data" generate "smart data". A global big data market has clearly yet to emerge and the solutions have yet to mature.

Industry, science and the state in Germany now want to address the issue of Big Data At the beginning of January, we gave the go-ahead for the new "Smart Data Innovation Lab" at KIT in Karlsruhe as part of a major opening event. This is a kind of innovation and competence center and platform that builds a bridge between research and the application of information technology for large amounts of data.

"What solutions can we build?"

SAP was the main driver in making the SDIL a reality. "Cloud and Big Data open up completely new business models and thus also growth and employment. Intelligent data analysis creates advantages for Company of any size and can also improve people's lives," emphasized SAP-Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe at the SDIL event. In future, the aim is to provide affordable big data solutions, "even for small companies". Company", says Snabe.

In order to draw the right practical conclusions and make concrete progress, the Smart Data Innovation Lab works with real data and data from Company. Among the named supporters are no small fry: Trump, Infineon and Volkswagen as well as the industry association Bitkom and the German Society for Computer Science (GI). And the founders of this lab include the SAP, Bayer, BoschMicrosoft Germany, Siemens, the Software AG - and the Karlsruhe KIT as a state research institution. Incidentally, the starting point for the lab is Working Group 6 (Education and Research for the Digital Future) of the National IT Summit, in which the SAP participates. SAP is also a co-sponsor of the lab and provides products, solutions and expertise. SAP Hana is also used to analyze the large volumes of data in real time.

State-of-the-art big data infrastructure

The lab infrastructure, which is currently being set up, is operated by the KIT. State-of-the-art big data infrastructure components are being used; from SAP (Hana and other solutions), from the Software AG, from Microsoft and from others. By the way, hardware components come from Hitachi Data Systems (HDS). According to KIT, it is already responsible for the infrastructure operation of large amounts of data, such as the GridKa data center as part of the globally distributed network for the European particle accelerator center CERN. As Professor Dr. Wilfried Juling, Chief Science & Information Officer at KIT, explained, the Smart Data Innovation Lab will develop specific software tools and methods for intelligent data analysis, including so-called code artifacts, which will then be used in a Open Source repository would be available for access. KIT is convinced that the Smart Data Innovation Lab will fulfill everyone's expectations: "With SDIL, KIT and its industrial partners from Big Data actually do smart data too."