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simple data structures, replicated on many servers in the cloud. NoSQL is not the best term;
NotRelationalDatabases would have been better, but the die has been cast.
Use of these NoSQL products has led to the definition of a new type of data store. BigData
(also spelled Big Data) is used to describe data collections that are characterized by huge vol-
ume, rapid velocity, and great variety. Considering volume, BigData refers to data sets that are
at least a petabyte in size, and usually larger. A data set containing all Google searches in the
United States on a given day is BigData in size. Additionally, BigData has high velocity, meaning
that it is generated rapidly. (If you know physics, you know that speed would be a more accurate
term, but speed doesn’t start with a v, and the vvv description has become a common way to
describe BigData.) The Google search data for a given day is generated, in, well, just a day. In the
past, months or years would have been required to generate so much data.
Finally, BigData is varied. BigData may have structured data, but it also may have free-form
text, dozens of different formats of Web server and database log files, streams of data about user
responses to page content, and possibly graphics, audio, and video files.
Today some of the major challenges are finding and reporting patterns and relationships
in BigData stores. NoSQL databases are used for this purpose, along with another open source
product named Hadoop, which we will discuss in Chapter 9.
So, we can conclude that by 2025, many, many NoSQL databases will exist, and not just in
leading-edge companies like Amazon.com, Google, and Facebook. What does that mean to you
as a business professional? First, such knowledge is useful; stay abreast of developments in this
area. If you were Addison and you went to a meeting today with Lucas and said something like,
“Lucas, have you thought about using MongoDB for storing our 3D parts and image data?” you
would gain his attention and admiration immediately. You’d likely find yourself on Lucas’s key
users’ committee or whatever AllRoad Parts calls it, and that would be a great career opportu-
nity for you. Also, watch NoSQL developments from an investor’s perspective. Not all such prod-
ucts will be open source; even if they are, there will be companies that integrate them into their
product or service offerings, and those companies may well be good investment opportunities.
If you’re interested in IS as a discipline or as a second major, pay attention to these prod-
ucts. You still need to learn the relational model and the processing of relational databases; they
will be the bread-and-butter of the industry, even in 2025. But exciting new opportunities and
career paths will also develop around NoSQL databases. Learn about them as well, and use that
knowledge to separate you from the competition when it comes to job interviews.
Lots of interesting, promising developments are under way!