Ton Engbersen - In which Cloud does Big Data live anyway?

Big Data is currently a much used term, it is high on the latest Gartner hype-curve, albeit in 'the trough of disillusionment'. Why? Is it a fad which will just go away? Big Data is often confused with "lots of data" - which causes disillusionment. So what is Big Data now really?  How does this play into our every-day lives, in our IT Infrastructure(s)? Pretty much in parallel with Big Data the concept of Cloud has been gaining rapid acceptance and there is no technical conference where the word Cloud is not mentioned. By the way, we are already using the cloud in our daily lives - but is it really such a good idea? How do Mobile, Cloud, Big Data and Analytics (yet another buzzword) play together? In this lecture I will try to give meaning to these terms, how they play together. Furthermore I will explicate that partly there is nothing new, and that there are serious pitfalls to be considered.

Ton Engbersen has been with the IBM Research Laboratory since 1980. His career spanned such diverse areas as Image processing, chip design, communications technology, server technology, legacy management, Innovation in Outsourcing and Data center Energy management. Throughout the years he has held a range of management positions in Research and Development in Switzerland and in the US. As member of the IBM Academy of Technology he led the European branch from 2009-2011. Ton holds over 20 patents, has published more then 50 articles in refereed scientific journals and has given over 200 presentations on various subjects concerning his professional work.

Currently he is the Scientific Director for the ASTRON-IBM Center of Exascale Technology, and leading the DOME Project (http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/37361.wss). Ton holds an EE Master from Eindhoven University, Netherlands and a PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland.