Author: Ajay Ohri

http://about.me/ajayohri

Oracle Open World and Techie Events

An innovate way to showcase collateral thanks to Oracle Open World.

The Post Event has an easily searchable archive with downloadable files and partner collateral.

See this-

http://myexpospace.com/oracle2009/vcr2009/vcr.cfm?search=advance

untitled

An even better site is their streaming site post event-( which is better than an HTML website —isnt it)

http://ondemandpreview.vportal.net/

oracle

However the website-http://myexpospace.com/ which has enabled Oracle to do this Post Event Content Management seems to be in a closed beta (as they update their websites)

Post event content management helps in getting out the word to people who were unable to see it, and the analytics from site visitor behavior can help you gauge viewer interest. I personally also like the concept of Virtual Conferences  as well – as they can be done much more frequently than they are currently are-

Like the Cloud Slam event I was invited to speak earlier ( and missed because of time zone differences !)

https://decisionstats.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/cloud-nine/

and https://decisionstats.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/here-comes-the-cloud-slam/

DecisionStats :Lies , True Lies and Statistics

In keeping with a promise-

here are transparent Decisionstats.com stats-

I now have 5898 views in October (

I moved from a self hosted WordPress site to a WordPress.com site that I regularly backup the export file- because of repeated hacking attempts)

Thanks to bad health- I can no longer travel to conferences- I recommend that you do a live streaming of the videos and all sessions. Saves the environment lots of carbon debt. Expands your potential audience by a factor of 10. Saves you money, too.

Ads- Its almost Christmas- so here comes my Hat- 200$ per month for ads, $25 for newsletter ads ( goes to 450 people PER post) . 3months minimum.

Not accepting exclusive ads to maintain editorial integrity and neutral behavior. Not accepting Click per Conversion Ads ( Does this look like Britney Spears blog?) This means if I shout on the phone to certain Mr Smith , I can do so with a clear conscience ( and voice).

Money goes to supplement my research. I am currently working on HPC and parallel algorithms ( once I get off sick leave). I am trying out parallel R on MPP clusters ( but also studying my latest acquisition a book by SAS Enterprise Miner ( courtesy the lovely elegant SAS Publishing people )  and if it can be done on an Open MPI framework ( probably can’t).

Q- If God was a Blogger, What would HE say?

 

DecisionStats

 

A- God wouldnt say anything if HE was a blogger.

He would write it all down instead.

 

 

Tera Data and SAS innovate together

I missed out posting this one- it’s the big big news of Tera Data and SAS coming closer to create a much needed Business Analytics Centre.

SAS and Teradata will establish a Business Innovation Analytic Center.

In conjunction with Elder Research Inc., the Center will offer leading-edge analytic thinking and implementation.

Core news facts:

With this centralized “think-tank,” customers can discuss analytic best practices with domain subject matter experts and quickly test or implement innovative models focused on uncovering unique insights for optimizing business operations.

The Business Analytic Innovation Center will combine the strengths of SAS, Teradata and Elder Research (the world’s leading analytical consulting firm for data mining and predictive analytics) to help customers across all industries grow revenue, reduce risk and improve operations.

The Center will incorporate unmatched thought leadership with a visionary lab for pilot programs, analytic workshops, and proofs-of-concept for prospective customers across a myriad of industries, including financial services, retail, government, health care and life sciences, and insurance.

Also see- http://www.sas.com/partners/directory/teradata/index.html

teradata1

Press Release

CARY, NC (Oct. 26, 2009) – Recognizing the growing need and challenges businesses face driving operational analytics across enterprises, SAS and Teradata are planning to establish a centralized “think tank” where customers can discuss analytic best practices with domain and subject-matter experts, and quickly test or implement innovative models that uncover unique insights for optimizing business operations. The Business Analytics Innovation Center will combine the strengths of SAS, the leader in business analytics <http://www.sas.com/businessanalytics/> software and services, Teradata Corporation <http://www.teradata.com> (NYSE: TDC <http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=TDC> ), the world’s largest company solely focused on data warehousing <http://www.teradata.com/t/enterprise-data-warehousing/> and enterprise analytics <http://www.teradata.com/t/business-needs/data-mining-and-analytics/> , and Elder Research Inc <http://www.datamininglab.com/> . (ERI), the world’s leading analytical consulting firm for data mining and predictive analytics, to help customers across all industries grow revenue, reduce risk and improve operations.

“For decades, SAS, Teradata and ERI have provided state-of-the-art analytical solutions for their respective customers,” said Jim Davis, SAS Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “The Business Analytics Innovation Center combines our individual strengths for a robust approach to enterprise analytics. By acting faster and asking questions they previously couldn’t ask or didn’t think of, participating clients will be able to improve their operations and strengthen competitive advantage.”

The Center will incorporate unmatched thought leadership with a visionary lab for pilot programs, analytic workshops, and proofs of concept for prospective customers across a myriad of industries, including financial services, retail, government, health care and life sciences, and insurance.

The joint offerings that will comprise the Center are expected to yield powerful results. For example, a top global consumer electronics firm used resources from ERI that will become part of the Business Analytics Innovation Center to discover and prevent fraud committed by clients and partners. Within the first year, the firm recovered more than $20 million.

They continue to rely on ERI for new analytical programs, rewarding their anti-fraud division’s effectiveness with expanded budget, staff and charter.

(Note from Ajay- Read earlier article on case management solutions by SAS in recent press release announcement at Business Leadership series ( the event following the Data Mining 2009 series)

Screenshot- Terrific web and social media campaign by www.teradata.com
( The Only BI company I know of that has an Iphone application AND a Facebook application)

Aster Data : Big Data Bigger Analytics Campaign

My favorite ( as of now) company in Big Data is Aster Data* ( I am partial to companies founded by Stanford Alumni having interacted with a lot of them while working with Trilogy- another Stanford dropout alumni company. There are also not too many Silicon Valley startups by us famously non intellectual Punjus

Q- What is the culture in Punjab A- In Punjab the only culture is agriculture)

Aster Data has correctly hit the marketing hammer on the nail of bigger data and with the quantities of data expanding rapidly  this is a lucrative market to get into ( as pointed by our favorite analytics journal NY Times)

Aster Data’s products of nCluster and nPath with MapReduce SQL, and the recent interactions with SAS Institute hold them in a nice promising place but with miles to go before they even rest ( or start thinking of that IPO)

Aster were present at Data Mining 2009 with terrific response to their booth.

As a techie wannabe stats frat boy, I like the Aster nPath product more (Time Series)  but the analytics within database claim with nCluster needs to be investigated and even tested further. Especially if you need  three days to get your monthly summary report.asterdata

( *and also an advertiser, sponsor to Big Data Summit as per FCC regulations)

The Data Services and Applications with flexibility for cloud computing is what makes this especially appealing from a product perspective while their relatively small size ( as compared to other bigger Vend- ORs) gives alliance partners more leverage in colloborating in Research and Design and maybe even co bundling applications.

Screenshots- Courtesy -The Lovely www.asterdata.com website ( Webmasters of other websites especially IBM and Oracle’s should take note how a website can have lots of content and yet be readable)

Also I will be posting the remaining Data Mining 2009 interviews shortly (including Part 2 with Anne) and share some/all of the presentations  via SlideShare embedding in WordPress.com ( post permission).

As for the Aster Data Interviews- I owe Peter Pavloski and the readers one. Coming up soon.

asterdata2

SPSS Directions

spss

SPSS is bringing Directions – its conference in Las Vegas. I am probably skipping this one due to my illness post travel- but it sure seems interesting for potential SPSS watchers as well as competitors in what direction will the IBM- SPSS combine move. Interesting co-sponsor SAP which until recently had been warming up to TeraData (and through it)  SAS Institute.

It would be interesting to see if they combine some of the IBM Cognos reporting software with some in future prediction intervals thanks to SPSS analytics.

Like Sales Jan- Mar 2009  Apr-Jun 2009 Jul-Aug 2009 Sep -Dec 2009 ( expected)

Also of interest- how would SPSS react to cloud computing paradigms, software as a service licensing , existing R – Python support and potential cross sell opportunities to existing customer base for IBM.

 

 

Running Stats Softwares on Clouds

If you have a small beatup laptop and want to rent say heavy hardware and expensive software, a technology demonstration is underway at www.analysis.utk.edu

We basically use a Citrix Server to run R, SAS and JMP ( among others on the Web through the browser)

Note- If you just run this on a normal Web Server with lots of hardware packed behind it- you can start giving cloud computing solutions to your clients for free.

And eliminate the OS ( Windows unless you like them ) and HW ( Read HP etc etc)

thus reducing Total Cost of Ownership for your final customers.

Is Revolution / SAS / SPSS Listening.

See Screenshot-

(Note this can be of terrific use for say software companies wanting to license out new markets in Asia as they can also analyze usage data and share the efficiencies with newer users. By adopting a Software as a Service Model ( by optimizing the revenue stream for cannibalization effects) they can also gain an advantage over more established players ( like R and SPSS /IBM can do with its need for more hardware and broader sales and distribution network)

Note- these are my personal views only and dont represent the University’s views. For more on University of Tennessee ‘s technology initiatives please go to http://oit.utk.edu/index.php where Scott Studham is using his expertise to revolutionalize the way education costs can be lowered using technology.

sas

Data Mining 2009- Using IPhone 3GS for Audio Interviews

I just used an I Phone 3GS for the interviews at Data Mining 2009 . The next time some one comes to your company claiming to be a social media expert to do a podcast or webcast etc. –

you can show them the I Phone and use the Voice Memos function to record it yourself.

Caveat audio- records at 1 MB/Minute and more than 5 minutes can be boring to listeners as well as Iphone can send only 5 mb files by email to yourself)

If you insist on doing more than 5 minute interviews- you can save it on the 80 Gb disc of the IPhone and use ITunes to set up your Podcast.

I believe that traditional PR needs to adapt and learn these techniques less they fail to adopt to the technology changes and this is especially true for public relations for technology companies.

The I Phone has a lot of features and you can even combine them with websites like www.ustream.com to create a Video Podcast.

For free.