Tag: data

KXEN EMEA User Conference 2010-Success in Business Analytics

KXEN User Conference-Prelim Agenda is out

Source-

http://www.kxen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=647&Itemid=1109

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2010
09:30-10:00 AM Registration & Breakfast
10:00-10:45 AM Welcome & Opening Remarks,
by John Ball, CEO KXEN
10:45-11:30 AM Keynote Session by James Kobielus,
Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, Inc. and author
of “The Forrester WaveTM: Predictive Analytics & Data Mining Solutions, Q1 2010” report 
11:30-12:05 AM Customer Case Study:
The European Commission (Government)
12:05-12:50 PM General Session:
Teradata Advanced Analytics
12:50-02:00 PM Lunch Break & Exhibition
02:00-02:35 PM Customer Case Study: 
Virgin Media (Communications)
02:35-03:05 PM General Session:
Sponsor Presentation
03:05-03:40 PM
Coffee Break & Exhibition
03:40-04:40 PM General Session:
The Factory Approach to Compete on Analytics
04:40-05:25 PM Customer Case Study: 
Insurance
05:30-06:30 PM Cocktail & Exhibition
07:30-00:00 PM Gala Dinner
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2010
08:30-09:00 AM
Registration & Breakfast
09:00-10:00 AM Keynote Presentation:
The CTO Talk
10:00-10:30 AM Customer Case Study: 
MonotaRO (Japan – Retail)
10:30-10:55 AM
Coffee Break & Exhibition
10:55-11:30 AM General Session: 
Sponsor Presentation
11:30-12:05 PM Customer Case Study: 
Aviva (Poland – Insurance)
12:05-01:00 PM Lunch Break & Exhibition
01:00-01:45 PM General Session: 
How Social Network Analysis Can Boost your Marketing Performance
01:45-02:20 PM Customer Case Study:
Financial Services
02:20-02:45 PM Closing Remarks,
by John Ball, CEO KXEN
02:45-03:00 PM
Coffee Break & Exhibition
Optional: Technical Training (Complimentary to all Attendees)
02:45-04:00 PM Hands-On Training #1: Getting Started with KXEN Analytical Data Management (ADM)
04:00-04:15 PM
Coffee Break
04:15-05:30 PM Hands-On Training #2: Getting Started with KXEN Modeling Factory (KMF)

Windows Azure vs Amazon EC2 (and Google Storage)

Here is a comparison of Windows Azure instances vs Amazon compute instances

Compute Instance Sizes:

Developers have the ability to choose the size of VMs to run their application based on the applications resource requirements. Windows Azure compute instances come in four unique sizes to enable complex applications and workloads.

Compute Instance Size CPU Memory Instance Storage I/O Performance
Small 1.6 GHz 1.75 GB 225 GB Moderate
Medium 2 x 1.6 GHz 3.5 GB 490 GB High
Large 4 x 1.6 GHz 7 GB 1,000 GB High
Extra large 8 x 1.6 GHz 14 GB 2,040 GB High

Standard Rates:

Windows Azure

  • Compute
    • Small instance (default): $0.12 per hour
    • Medium instance: $0.24 per hour
    • Large instance: $0.48 per hour
    • Extra large instance: $0.96 per hour
  • Storage
    • $0.15 per GB stored per month
    • $0.01 per 10,000 storage transactions
  • Content Delivery Network (CDN)
    • $0.15 per GB for data transfers from European and North American locations*
    • $0.20 per GB for data transfers from other locations*
    • $0.01 per 10,000 transactions*

Source –

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/offers/popup/popup.aspx?lang=en&locale=en-US&offer=MS-AZR-0001P

and

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/windowsazure/

Amazon EC2 has more options though——————————-

http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/

Standard On-Demand Instances Linux/UNIX Usage Windows Usage
Small (Default) $0.085 per hour $0.12 per hour
Large $0.34 per hour $0.48 per hour
Extra Large $0.68 per hour $0.96 per hour
Micro On-Demand Instances Linux/UNIX Usage Windows Usage
Micro $0.02 per hour $0.03 per hour
High-Memory On-Demand Instances
Extra Large $0.50 per hour $0.62 per hour
Double Extra Large $1.00 per hour $1.24 per hour
Quadruple Extra Large $2.00 per hour $2.48 per hour
High-CPU On-Demand Instances
Medium $0.17 per hour $0.29 per hour
Extra Large $0.68 per hour $1.16 per hour
Cluster Compute Instances
Quadruple Extra Large $1.60 per hour N/A*
* Windows is not currently available for Cluster Compute Instances.

http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/

Standard Instances

Instances of this family are well suited for most applications.

Small Instance – default*

1.7 GB memory
1 EC2 Compute Unit (1 virtual core with 1 EC2 Compute Unit)
160 GB instance storage (150 GB plus 10 GB root partition)
32-bit platform
I/O Performance: Moderate
API name: m1.small

Large Instance

7.5 GB memory
4 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each)
850 GB instance storage (2×420 GB plus 10 GB root partition)
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: m1.large

Extra Large Instance

15 GB memory
8 EC2 Compute Units (4 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each)
1,690 GB instance storage (4×420 GB plus 10 GB root partition)
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: m1.xlarge

Micro Instances

Instances of this family provide a small amount of consistent CPU resources and allow you to burst CPUcapacity when additional cycles are available. They are well suited for lower throughput applications and web sites that consume significant compute cycles periodically.

Micro Instance

613 MB memory
Up to 2 EC2 Compute Units (for short periodic bursts)
EBS storage only
32-bit or 64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Low
API name: t1.micro

High-Memory Instances

Instances of this family offer large memory sizes for high throughput applications, including database and memory caching applications.

High-Memory Extra Large Instance

17.1 GB of memory
6.5 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 3.25 EC2 Compute Units each)
420 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Moderate
API name: m2.xlarge

High-Memory Double Extra Large Instance

34.2 GB of memory
13 EC2 Compute Units (4 virtual cores with 3.25 EC2 Compute Units each)
850 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: m2.2xlarge

High-Memory Quadruple Extra Large Instance

68.4 GB of memory
26 EC2 Compute Units (8 virtual cores with 3.25 EC2 Compute Units each)
1690 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: m2.4xlarge

High-CPU Instances

Instances of this family have proportionally more CPU resources than memory (RAM) and are well suited for compute-intensive applications.

High-CPU Medium Instance

1.7 GB of memory
5 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2.5 EC2 Compute Units each)
350 GB of instance storage
32-bit platform
I/O Performance: Moderate
API name: c1.medium

High-CPU Extra Large Instance

7 GB of memory
20 EC2 Compute Units (8 virtual cores with 2.5 EC2 Compute Units each)
1690 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: High
API name: c1.xlarge

Cluster Compute Instances

Instances of this family provide proportionally high CPU resources with increased network performance and are well suited for High Performance Compute (HPC) applications and other demanding network-bound applications. Learn more about use of this instance type for HPC applications.

Cluster Compute Quadruple Extra Large Instance

23 GB of memory
33.5 EC2 Compute Units (2 x Intel Xeon X5570, quad-core “Nehalem” architecture)
1690 GB of instance storage
64-bit platform
I/O Performance: Very High (10 Gigabit Ethernet)
API name: cc1.4xlarge

Also http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlazure/default.aspx

offers SQL Databases as a service with a free trial offer

If you are into .Net /SQL big time or too dependent on MS, Azure is a nice option to EC2 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/offers/popup/popup.aspx?lang=en&locale=en-US&offer=COMPARE_PUBLIC

Updated- I just got approved for Google Storage so am adding their info- though they are in Preview (and its free right now) 🙂

https://code.google.com/apis/storage/docs/overview.html

Functionality

Google Storage for Developers offers a rich set of features and capabilities:

Basic Operations

  • Store and access data from anywhere on the Internet.
  • Range-gets for large objects.
  • Manage metadata.

Security and Sharing

  • User authentication using secret keys or Google account.
  • Authenticated downloads from a web browser for Google account holders.
  • Secure access using SSL.
  • Easy, powerful sharing and collaboration via ACLs for individuals and groups.

Performance and scalability

  • Up to 100 gigabytes per object and 1,000 buckets per account during the preview.
  • Strong data consistency—read-after-write consistency for all upload and delete operations.
  • Namespace for your domain—only you can create bucket URIs containing your domain name.
  • Data replicated in multiple data centers across the U.S. and within the same data center.

Tools

  • Web-based storage manager.
  • GSUtil, an open source command line tool.
  • Compatible with many existing cloud storage tools and libraries.

Read the Getting Started Guide to learn more about the service.

Note: Google Storage for Developers does not support Google Apps accounts that use your company domain name at this time.

Back to top

Pricing

Google Storage for Developers pricing is based on usage.

  • Storage—$0.17/gigabyte/month
  • Network
    • Upload data to Google
      • $0.10/gigabyte
    • Download data from Google
      • $0.15/gigabyte for Americas and EMEA
      • $0.30/gigabyte for Asia-Pacific
  • Requests
    • PUT, POST, LIST—$0.01 per 1,000 requests
    • GET, HEAD—$0.01 per 10,000 requests

Hearst DataMining Challenge

Check out the Hearst Data Mining Challenge- a new competition-sponsored by DMA, Hearst Magazine, and EXL

THE HEARST CHALLENGE STARTS ON OCTOBER 14TH

CHALLENGE

DESCRIPTION

Over the years, the magazine publishing industry has made significant strides in improving subscription based circulation by developing analytic frameworks that better predict customer response to acquisition and renewal offers. The objective of this contest is to apply the same analytic discipline and effectively predict newsstand locations “response”. Specifically the objective is to predict the number of copies to be placed in each newsstand location to optimize the overall contribution of the newsstand location typically referred to as draw.

Data for the competition is provided by CMG and Experian.

and

RULES

HOW TO ENTER: Beginning October 14th, 2010 at 12:01 AM (ET) throughDecember 3rd, 2010 at 11:59 PM (ET) go to the Hearst Challenge website located at http://www.HearstChallenge.com (the “Site”) and complete and submit the entry form pursuant to the onscreen instructions. Entrants will be provided a historical sample of newsstand location draw, sales and associated location level data to help develop their predictive algorithm. Hearst will in turn hold back two distinct sets of draw/sales data, one to be used as a validation set by the contestant and one to be used as a final contest evaluation set. Entrants may not include any other external variables for the challenge. Additional details will be provided with the data. Entrants will be able to track their performance against the validation set throughout the course of the challenge via a leader tracking board to be made available on the Site. Entries must include the following documentation:

  • Data file with id variables and expected sales values by store and publication
  • The final model/ algorithm code used to score the final data set
  • Any supporting documentation that pertains to the development of the submitted model/algorithm including variable creation. Variables that were used in the model need to be traced through from input to coefficient / node (if using a tree based methodology).

Check out http://www.hearstchallenge.com/index.php for further details.

Where is Waldo? Webcast on Network Intelligence

From the good folks at AsterData, a webcast on a slightly interesting analytics topic

Enterprises and government agencies can become overwhelmed with information. The value of all that data lies in the insights it can reveal. To get the maximum value, you need an analytic platform that lets you analyze terabytes of information rapidly for immediate actionable insights.

Aster Data’s massively parallel database with an integrated analytics engine can quickly reveal hard-to-recognize trends on huge datasets which other systems miss. The secret? A patent-pending SQL-MapReduce framework that enables business analysts and business intelligence (BI) tools to iteratively analyze big data more quickly. This allows you to find anomalies more quickly and stop disasters before they happen.

Discover how you can improve:

  • Network intelligence via graph analysis to understand connectivity among suspects, information propagation, and the flow of goods
  • Security analysis to prevent fraud, bot attacks, and other breaches
  • Geospatial analytics to quickly uncover details about regions and subsets within those communities
  • Visual analytics to derive deeper insights more quickly

September Roundup by Revolution

From the monthly newsletter- which I consider quite useful for keeping updated on application of R

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Revolution News
Every month, we’ll bring you the latest news about Revolution’s products and events in this section. Follow us on Twitter at @RevolutionR for up-to-the-minute news and updates from Revolution Analytics!

Revolution R Enterprise 4.0 for Windows now available. Based on the latest R 2.11.1 and including the RevoScaleR package for big-data analysis in R, Revolution R Enterprise is now available for download for Windows 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Click here to subscribe, or available free to academia.

New! Integrate R with web applications, BI dashboards and more with web services. RevoDeployR is a new Web Services framework that integrates dynamic R-based computations into applications for business users. It will be available September 30 with Revolution R Enterprise Server on RHEL 5. Click here to learn more.

Free Webinar, September 22: In a joint webinar from Revolution Analytics and Jaspersoft, learn how to use RevoDeployR to integrate advanced analytics on-demand in applications, BI dashboards, and on the web. Register here.

Revolution in the News: SearchBusinessAnalytics.com previews the forthcoming Revolution R GUI; Channel Register introduces RevoDeployR, while IT Business Edge shows off the Web Services architecture; and ReadWriteWeb.com looks at how RevoScaleR tackles the Big Data explosion.

Inside-R: A new site for the R Community. At www.inside-R.org you’ll find the latest information about R from around the Web, searchable R documentation and packages, hints and tips about R, and more. You can even add a “Download R” badge to your own web-page to help spread the word about R.

R News, Tips and Tricks from the Revolutions blog
The Revolutions blog brings you daily news and tips about R, statistics and open source. Here are some highlights from Revolutions from the past month.

R’s key role in the oil spill response: Read how NIST’s Division Chief of Statistical Engineering used R to provide critical analysis in real time to the Secretaries of Energy and the Interior, and helped coordinate the government’s response.

Animating data with R and Google Earth: Learn how to use R to create animated visualizations of geographical data with Google Earth, such as this video showing how tuna migrations intersect with the location of the Gulf oil spill.

Are baseball games getting longer? Or is it just Red Sox games? Ryan Elmore uses nonparametric regression in R to find out.

Keynote presentations from useR! 2010: the worldwide R user’s conference was a great success, and there’s a wealth of useful tips and information in the presentations. Video of the keynote presentations are available too: check out in particular Frank Harrell’s talk Information Allergy, and Friedrich Leisch’s talk on reproducible statistical research.

Looking for more R tips and tricks? Check out the monthly round-ups at the Revolutions blog.

Upcoming Events
Every month, we’ll highlight some upcoming events from R Community Calendar.

September 23: The San Diego R User Group has a meetup on BioConductor and microarray data analysis.

September 28: The Sydney Users of R Forum has a meetup on building world-class predictive models in R (with dinner to follow).

September 28: The Los Angeles R User Group presents an introduction to statistical finance with R.

September 28: The Seattle R User Group meets to discuss, “What are you doing with R?”

September 29: The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill R Users Group has its first meeting.

October 7: The NYC R User Group features a presentation by Prof. Andrew Gelman.

There are also new R user groups in Singapore, Seoul, Denver, Brisbane, and New Jersey.  Please let us know if we’re missing your R user group, or if want to get a new one started.

———————————————————————————————-Editor

David Smith, VP Marketing
david@revolutionanalytics.com
Twitter: @revodavid

subscribe here for Revo’s Monthly newsletter-

IBM Buys Netezza

IBM just bought Netezza (maker of Twin Fin appliance) for handling big data.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/i-b-m-to-buy-analytics-firm-for-1-7-billion/?hpw

The deal values Netezza at $27 a share, a 9.8 percent premium to its closing price on Friday.

Since Netezza was an existing SAS partner, probably it would impact it more if at all, since IBM-SPSS acquisition. Also Netezza was one of the foremost BI companies for both using and expounding R-

See- Using Netezza and R http://www.biecek.pl/WZUR2009/LukaszBartnik2009c.pdf

and http://www.netezza.com/userconference/pce.html#rmftfic

Below a paper on using R on Netezza-

> library(nzr)
> nzconnect(“user”, “password”, “host”, “database”)
> library(rpart)
> data(kyphosis)
# this creates a table out of kyphosis data.frame
# and sends its data to TwinFin
> invisible(as.nz.data.frame(kyphosis))
> nzQuery(“SELECT * FROM kyphosis”)
KYPHOSIS AGE NUMBER START
1 absent 71 3 5
2 absent 158 3 14
3 present 128 4 5
[ cut ]
# now create a nz.data.frame
> k <- nz.data.frame(“kyphosis”)
> as.data.frame(k)
KYPHOSIS AGE NUMBER START
1 absent 71 3 5
2 absent 158 3 14
3 present 128 4 5
[ cut ]
> nzQuery(“SELECT * FROM kyphosis”)
COUNT
1 81

JMP 9 releasing on Oct 12

JMP 9 releases on Oct 12- it is a very good reliable data visualization and analytical tool ( AND available on Mac as well)

AND IT is advertising R Graphics as well (lol- I can visualize the look on some ahem SAS fans in the R Project)

Updated Pricing- note I am not sure why they are charging US academics 495$ when SAS On Demand is free for academics. Shouldnt JMP be free to students- maybe John Sall and his people can do a tradeoff analysis for this given JMP’s graphics are better than Base SAS (which is under some pressure from WPS and R)

http://www.sas.com/govedu/edu/programs/soda-account-setup.html

and http://www.enterpriseinnovation.net/content/sas-delivers-free-data-management-and-analytics-solutions-academe

*Offer good in the U.S. only.

OFFER PRICING DETAILS
New Corporate Customer

$1,595

Save $300.

 No special requirements.
ORDER NOW (WIN) ORDER NOW (MAC)
Corporate Upgrade

$795

Save $155.

 Complete the form below or call 1-877-594-6567. Requires valid JMP® 8 serial number.
New Academic

$495

Save $100.

 Complete the form below or call 1-877-594-6567. Requires campus street address and campus e-mail address.
Academic Upgrade

$250

Save $45.

 Complete the form below or call 1-877-594-6567. Requires campus street address and campus e-mail address.

From- the mailer-

Be First in Line for JMP® 9
Save up to $300 when you pre-order a
single-user license by Oct. 11

Pre-Order JMP 9

Make JMP your analytic hub for visual data discovery with this special offer, good through Oct. 11, 2010. Pre-order a single-user license of JMP 9 – for a discount of up to $300 – and get ready for a leap in data interactivity.

Order now and enjoy the compelling new features of JMP 9 when the software is released Oct. 12. New capabilities in JMP 9 let you:

  • Optimize and simulate using your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
  • Use maps to find patterns in your geographic data.
  • Enjoy the updated look and flexibility of JMP 9 on Microsoft Windows.
  • Create and share custom add-ins that extend JMP.
  • Leverage an expanded array of advanced statistical methodologies.
  • Display analytic results from R using interactive graphics.

PRE-ORDER JMP 9

What if I already have a JMP 8 single-user license?
Great news! You can upgrade to JMP 9 for less than half the regular price.

What if I’m an annual license customer?
Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Annual license customers enjoy priority access to all the latest JMP releases as soon as they become available. JMP 9 will be shipped to you automatically.

What if I work or study in the academic world?
Call 1-877-594-6567 to learn about significant discounts for students and professors through the JMP Academic Program.

Please feel free to forward this offer to interested colleagues.

Got two or more users?
A JMP® annual license is the way to go. Call for details.
1-877-594-6567

Remember: Act by Oct. 11!

JMP runs on Macintosh and Windows