Microsoft SQL Server, NoSQL, and the in-memory database wars are the highlights among this year’s headlines. Fuggedabout Hadoop. Databases are still the backbone of transactional and analytical applications, they usually stoked big reader interest in 2013. But times are changing, with a brand new breed NoSQL database and, ironically, the need for SQL querying on top of Hadoop being big themes this year. Measuring by the yardstick of page views — that’s admittedly skewed toward juicy headlines and Internet search-engine-ranking algorithms — here’s my personal number of top database headlines in 2013: 1. Microsoft SQL Server 2014: Final CountdownThe top-selling database by volume (Oracle tops revenue) has plenty of fans. This story looks under the hood of the second one community technology preview (beta) release to explain the in-memory capabilities and other new features expected with the subsequent release inside the first half 2014. 2. Why NoSQL Databases Are Gaining FansThe headline captures it. Need we are saying more? 3. MetLife Uses NoSQL For Customer... Read More »

Founded by big data pioneers from Yahoo and Google, startup unveils cloud-based offering built specifically for Hadoop users. 7 Super Certifications For IT Pros (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) Spotting an emerging marketplace for cloud-based Hadoop, Silicon Valley startup Altiscale has officially launched Altiscale Data Cloud, a Hadoop-as-a-Service (HaaS) offering the corporate says is designed to free users from the complexities of deploying, managing, and scaling a giant data platform. In a phone interview with InformationWeek, Altiscale CEO and cofounder Raymie Stata, formerly chief technical officer of Yahoo, said the hot service helps simplify Hadoop for corporations that lack the expertise or resources to run the massive data framework without outside help. “We now have the world’s only purpose-built Hadoop cloud,” said Stata. “It is really Hadoop-as-a-service — not Hadoop as yet one more application slapped on top of a generic infrastructure-as-a-service.” [Too many companies fall back on incremental fixes. Here’s methods to foster creative change. Read Why... Read More »

Federal CIOs face many challenges processing petabytes of knowledge. But progressively more analytic tools offer new insights to enhance agency services with constituents. Every minute of each day, enterprises are flooded with digital data from email, social media sites, websites, and mobile apps. As an enterprise, the government is not any different. Federal agencies and other large organizations are already confronting the necessity to handle petabytes of information. All this data will stress an already overwhelmed system, nevertheless it may even create opportunities for greater engagement — citizen engagement, primarily. So as to require the government to rethink a number of its digital strategies. [ Putting big data on a ball: See NOAA’s Unique 3D Weather Tool. ] Many federal agencies have began to use mobile technology, social networks, and context-based services to create channels of communication, but these tools is probably not implemented in a method that meets the goal of effective interaction with citizens. By treating constituents more like consumers and customers, the... Read More »

Government agencies, universities, and some private companies won authorization to make use of drones within the US. Take a peek on the drones at the job. (Source: Trimble) The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) estimates that as many as 7,500 commercial drones — ranging in size from the massive wingspan of a Boeing 737 to a small radio-controlled model airplane — may be hovering inside the US airspace by 2018. Beyond the army, there are lots of potential uses for drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), reminiscent of law enforcement, storm tracking, search and rescue, and aerial surveying. But managing drones domestically comes with its own challenges, which still have to be addressed by america government and the non-public companies involved. The FAA in December deploy six sites to check drone operations across the country. The congressionally mandated sites are tasked with conducting research into the certification and operational requirements for safely integrating commercial drones into the national airspace. The six sites include the University of... Read More »

The Department of Energy’s Hanford site conquers a large area with a versatile cloud environment and skinny clients to enhance performance and lower costs. Top 10 Government IT Innovators Of 2013 (click image for larger view) Imagine having the responsibility for upgrading network operations for dozens of organizations located in 600 buildings over 586 square miles, about half the scale of Rhode Island — and which happens to be the biggest environmental clean-up site within the country.  That was the challenge for Department of Energy contractor Mission Support Alliance (MSA), the corporate mounted by Lockheed Martin, Jacobs, and WSI to support the clean-up of the government’s Hanford site within the state of Washington, that included nine nuclear reactors, five reprocessing plants, hundreds of labs and support buildings, and greater than 150 underground waste tanks. The task called for making improvements to the computing environment around the sprawling complex, increasing network security and adaptableness, and concurrently, reducing operating costs. MSA’s approach ended in what would become... Read More »