This study highlights the phases of the big data journey, the objectives and challenges of midsize organizations taking the journey, and the current state of the technology that they are using to drive results. It also offers a pragmatic course of action for midsize companies to take as they dive into this new era of computing.

Big data promises valuable insights that are enticing organizations to invest in analytics and BI tools. Yet many overlook the need for a DBMS that can stand up to the strain big data places on the underlying infrastructure. This ePaper explores the DBMS characteristics of most importance in a big data setting.

In this era of big data, business and IT leaders across all industries are looking for ways to easily and cost-effectively unlock the value of enterprise data that resides in both transactional processing and data warehouse systems. They are trying to quickly implement new solutions to gain additional insight from this data to improve outcomes across all areas of the business, while simultaneously optimizing resource utilization and reducing costs. IBM® DB2® for Linux, UNIX and Windows is a multi-workload database management solution built for these challenges. Built with CIOs in mind, this interactive online tool offers new insights in form of analyst research papers, problem/solution guides and direct client feedback about Total Cost of Ownership and overall efficiencies gained by selecting DB2.

High reliability and system availability are absolutely crucial for database and the underlying server hardware. A 67% majority of organizations now require that their databases deliver a minimum of four, five or six "nines" of uptime for their most mission critical applications. That is the equivalent of 52 seconds to 52 minutes of unplanned downtime per database/per annum. Those are the results of ITIC's 2013 - 2014 Database Reliability and Deployment Trends Survey, an independent Web-based survey which polled 600 organizations worldwide from August through October 2013. IBM DB2 and Informix databases, followed closely by Microsoft SQL Server, achieved the highest overall reliability and customer satisfaction ratings for product performance, security, technical service and support and the value of its pricing and licensing agreements. Oracle DB scored high for reliability and performance but lagged far behind IBM and Microsoft in customer satisfaction with pricing, licensing and technical support.

In this Advisory, Clabby Analytics looks more closely at the importance of implementing an integrated infrastructure - and its relationship to business analytics. The paper will examine the business analytics workloads, discuss how these workloads put different demands on the underlying systems and infrastructure, and provide guidance designing an integrated business analytics environment that will provide organizations with high performance, resiliency, and a scalable growth path.

Forward-thinking organizations are recognizing the superiority of Power Systems technology. The Power Systems family offers the ultimate system for today's compute intensive business applications and databases. Power Systems continues to prove itself as the ultimate system for compute intensive workloads, high performance analytics, high performance UNIX, and high performance computing.

Many small and midsize retailers could benefit from using advanced analytics to understand their customers better and improve promotions but are daunted by the prospect. They are aware that advanced analytics can help retailers turn purchase data into retail excellence. However, they perceive that advanced analytics requires massive infrastructure changes, expensive software licenses, analytics expertise, long lead times and major upfront capital expenses.

This study highlights the phases of the big data journey, the objectives and challenges of midsize organizations taking the journey, and the current state of the technology that they are using to drive results. It also offers a pragmatic course of action for midsize companies to take as they dive into this new era of computing.

With the growing demand for faster business applications and the rapid spread of technology trends like Big Data, computing performance has never been more important. The challenges for midsize businesses are even greater. With fewer resources, IT teams in midmarket organizations need to be able to deliver mission-critical applications at full-horsepower to employees. They also need to be able to do more with less -- more computing power with fewer servers, smaller teams and leaner budgets. This IT Managers' Journal delivers 10 ways IT managers and data center professionals in midsize organizations can deliver more computing power to meet the promises they have made. Topics covered include Linux servers, IBM Power Systems, SAP applications and business systems, a real-world case study showcasing the benefits of replacing underperforming servers, Big Data, techniques for better server management and more. Download this exclusive IT Managers' Journal and learn how to get more out of your data centers today.

The enterprise database provides the critical foundation for any SAP implementation. It must deliver exceptional performance for timely decision making while controlling costs and complexity. IBM® DB2® is uniquely designed to fulfill this need. This brochure highlights: IBM® DB2® with BLU Acceleration includes new capabilities that help enhance performance, simplify management and reduce the total cost of ownership for organizations using the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse application.

This white paper discusses how IBM InfoSphere can support the integration and governance of Big Data in insurance. The white paper reviews common Big Data use cases including Telematics and Usage-Based Insurance, Claims Fraud Analytics, Next Best Action, Catastrophe Modeling and Producer Optimization.