Business Intelligence: April 2015

Moore’s Law:

Moore’s law is a term which originated in 1970. The simplified version of this law states that processor speeds, or overall processing power for computers will double every two years.

Cloud Computing:

Cloud computing is a type of Internet-based computing," where services such as servers, storage and applications are delivered to an organization's computers and devices through the Internet.

Cloud Computing Service Providers:

Microsoft Azure:

It is a cloud computing platform provided by Microsoft.

Features:

IaaS + PaaS

Azure is the only major cloud platform ranked by Gartner as an industry leader for both infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS)

Hybrid ready

Does not make you choose between your datacenter and the public cloud, gives you the best of both worlds

Easier to build applications that span both on-premises and the cloud

Open and flexible

Supports any operating system, language, tool, and framework

Always up, always on

Offers a 99.95% availability SLA, 24x7 tech support, and round-the-clock service health monitoring

Economical and scalable

Azure can quickly scale up or down to match demand, so you only pay for what you use

Everywhere

Azure runs on a growing global network of Microsoft-managed data-centers across 19 regions, giving you a wide range of options for running applications and ensuring great performance

Xerox, a global leader in business processes and document management, wanted to shift its employee learning focus from a traditional approach focused on classroom-based learning to a more needs-driven approach. Recognizing both the power of video in learning and the fact that its workforce is increasingly mobile, Xerox worked with Microsoft Azure Circle partner Ravnur to implement a Microsoft Azure cloud-based video content management solution that delivers learning content to mobile devices anywhere and anytime.

Google Cloud Platform:

Features:

Google has one of the largest and most advanced computer networks
Data is automatically mirrored across storage devices in multiple locations
Takes care of database administration, server configuration, sharing and load balancing
Integrated with several development tools and command line interface which makes it easier to build applications
Provides auto scale-up during times of heavy traffic
Managed services also scale down, you don’t pay for what you don’t use
Provides great performance and excellent support

In 2008, a team of Best Buy developers launched Giftag, a social application that lets users make online wish lists to share with friends through email, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. The app was promising, but the development effort was substantial – it took eight developers more than a year to create the app. Once it was developed, adding new features and scaling it for heavy use was onerous.

Once the Best Buy team switched to Google App Engine, the payoff was immediate. Best Buy developers rewrote the Giftag application from scratch – improving on the original code – while only having to do an extract, transform and load on the existing data. The entire process took four and a half developers just 11 weeks – or roughly half the original development team, in 25% of the original time. The time savings enabled Best Buy to relaunch the app just in time for the 2008 holiday shopping season.