The amount of information being generated today is growing exponentially, with 90 per cent of all information being stored on servers having been created within the last two years.

This is happening as a result of people today largely being producers of information whereas ten or fifteen years ago people were largely consumers of information. In addition to the information we as humans are generating, data is increasingly being generated by devices. These devices could be as simple as a sensor in a road, as large as the video footage from a network of hundreds of security cameras or as detailed as the transaction records from a large retail merchant or bank.

The volume of information that is continuously being generated poses plenty of challenges. For organisations, these challenges all essentially come down to how information will be managed. On the flip-side, what does ‘big data’ mean for the general public?

For organisations, big data is all about information management and the edge that can be gained from small insights that are held within the large volume of information that is collected. Big data is not without challenges though. These challenges could come in the form of simple things like ‘where is my information actually being stored?’ but also more complex questions about how to analyse the available information and how then to use this information to make smarter decisions within an organisation. These decisions, for example, could improve the performance of a road network or a retail outlet by enabling the organisation to react quicker to changes in patterns or behaviour. The same changes in patterns or behaviour may provide valuable insights to organisations as they look to deliver new products or services that differentiate them from their competitors.

For the information that is human-generated, this information is increasingly generated or accessed from mobile devices. How does an organisation control these devices and the information they generate? Alongside the smart phones that pretty much every employee has these days, IDC expects global tablet shipments to nearly double from 55 million in 2011 to 102 million in 2013. By 2015 this number is expected to be 147.2 million of which 45 million will be bought by businesses.

In the past, employers provided notebooks, tablets and other mobile devices to employees. But these are generally of the employers’ choosing, not the employees. They are configured and locked down to suit the employer. Today’s employees are looking for differentiators over and above salary and financial incentives. They want to be able to do whatever they need to do from wherever they are. This has lead to an increase in ‘bring your own device’ or BYOD programs where employees use the device that they are most comfortable with to access corporate applications. Potential increases in productivity and satisfaction among employees are driving the increase in BYOD programs that are either being planned or rolled-out.

Gartner in their Top Predictions 2011 report has indicated that by 2014, 90 per cent of organisations will support corporate applications on personal devices. Key enablers for an increase in BYOD programs have been a rise in web-based applications, the increasing popularity of virtualisation – both within the data centre and upon client devices – and ubiquitous connectivity using wired, wireless and mobile connectivity.

With the increase in mobile device use and big data within organisations security and the delivery of a quality of experience for wireless (802.11) users in enterprise environments adds to the challenges of implementation. These challenges arise because the wireless technology being implemented by organisations today was designed to deliver coverage and support a limited number of users or devices per access point. Not only is the number of devices increasing but there is also a significant increase in the amount of data that needs to be transferred across the wireless network. In many cases it is the combination of coverage, density and performance from today’s wireless networks where things begin to breakdown.

Fourth generation, or next generation, wireless technology can overcome these problems. Dense deployment of access points and co-ordinated radio transmission assures mobility for devices such as VoIP phones, bandwidth for fat clients such as those that may be used for medical imaging and ensures that the large number of mobile devices can all connect as and when required. At the same time, products that support 10 Gigabit Ethernet ensure maximum data throughput for the core of the network, allowing it to cope with large amounts of stored data, and easily handle any large surges or times of peak demand.

So while organisations face the challenge of how to capitalise on the opportunity that arises from the volumes of information that are available and figures out how to overcome those challenges that are presented, consumers face the challenge of their privacy increasingly being encroached on.

Much of the information that is being collected is about us. It’s about what we do and how we do it. Credit cards, transport tickets and loyalty programs are all ways in which our behaviour can be tracked to enable organisations to improve their performance. In some cases we have the ability to opt-out of these programs. No-one forces us to use a loyalty program or credit card – we do it because there is a benefit for us. And for most, the benefit or convenience outweighs other concerns about privacy. It will, however, be interesting to see how the increasing use of big data influences concerns about privacy.

For businesses, timely decision-making is critical in delivering a quality of experience for users. Today’s network must be constructed to facilitate the effective and efficient transfer of large and complex files, including the ability to handle significant surges in data transfer. At the same time, consumers need to be aware that more often than not, it is information about them and their behaviour that businesses are looking to better understand.

ABOUT SCOTT PENNO//

Scott Penno is Australia Country Manager for Allied Telesis. Penno has a strong background in networking and communications technologies with practical experience in a broad range of environments, including physical security, networking, tele-communications and IT security.