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2Big Data Relies on Open-Source Tools
As the big data space continues to explode, so has the variety of projects that help make the most of it. Most people are already familiar with Apache Hadoop, and many are leveraging Cascading. However, we’re also seeing emerging solutions from companies such as Wibidata that are connecting big data directly to the front office, and projects like Storm and Kafka that are set to change the future of stream processing. Even open-source solutions from established players like Jaspersoft and Pentaho are driving innovation and creating enormous value for companies focused on big data execution.
3NoSQL Stores
From graph databases to enterprise search through archives or high-security storage, there are options for solving the most difficult data search and analysis problems. Examples include Facebook’s Graph Search, Parquet, MongoDB, Giraph, Neo4j, CouchDB, Cassandra, Elastic Search and HBase, to name a few. Open-source data storage currently supports hundreds of thousands of successful deployments and continues to grow in use.
4Cloud Computing
Open-source software has provided the foundation for many cloud computing implementations, including those from Cloud Foundry, CloudStack and Zoho. Perhaps the most surprising of all has been the rapid growth behind OpenStack, which in only three years has garnered support and commercial distributions from companies including Red Hat, Piston, Intel, Dell, Midokura, Cisco, IBM and HP.
5Content Management Systems
6Storage Software
7Research and Exploration
Open source is driving global research innovation with efforts that include OpenROV, a community-driven research and development project aiming to make underwater robotic exploration accessible to almost anyone. Another one is OpenQuake, a suite of software tools designed to aid the uploading and sharing of earthquake data to support better global research and response efforts.
8Mobile Development
Mobile applications are literally changing the world, and they continue to permeate our lives. Front and center has been Google’s Android operating system, but there are many other projects within the space that are driving innovation and value, from productivity applications and games to mobile management. The freemium method of introduction works well: “Free” is awfully hard to beat in any business.
9Infrastructure Management
10Web Design Software
11Programming Languages
If you’re a developer, you’ll have your favorite languages with which to code, whether system-level or scripting. If they happen to include Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Scala, Clojure and Tk/Tcl, then you are also a fan of open source.