Age of Data Abundance and the cloud  |  February 17, 2009  

I've been in a number of discussions lately where the folks were looking at cloud computing as just a continuation of the current computing paradigm. I firmly believe that is not the case.

In the February issue of IEEE Spectrum, there is an article titled "Cellphones for Science", which discusses using sensors in cell phones to gather information from the environment. This information would be placed in a central location where researchers could access it for analysis, and the vast cloud computing resources available could then be applied for a wide range of purposes.

There is data all over organizations that's not used effectively. This possible use of cell phones to gather data is an example of how we'll have more data than ever at our fingertips - the age of abundance of data. It's not just data from cell phones though, since we'll be able to use tagging and sensing all over. Some of the EDS Fellows have been looking at a city of the future project. If taken forward as defined, it would strain the addressing space of IPv6.

Organizations need to start looking for the information they'd like to have and start planning for its collection during this downturn in the economy.

Charlie Bess
EDS' Next Big Thing Blog