Above the Trend Line: machine learning industry rumor central, is a recurring feature of insideAI News. In this column, we present a variety of short time-critical news items such as people movements, funding news, financial results, industry alignments, rumors and general scuttlebutt floating around the big data, data science and machine learning industries including behind-the-scenes anecdotes and curious buzz. Our intent is to provide our readers a one-stop source of late-breaking news to help keep you abreast of this fast-paced ecosystem. We’re working hard on your behalf with our extensive vendor network to give you all the latest happenings. Heard of something yourself? Tell us! Just e-mail me at: daniel
In funding news that serves to strengthen the real-time analytics ecosystem, MemSQL provider of a fast database platform for real-time analytics, announced it has closed its series C financing raising $36 million. The oversubscribed round includes new investors REV and Caffeinated Capital, as well as all existing investors Accel Partners, Khosla Ventures, Data Collective, IA Ventures, and First Round Capital. This latest MemSQL funding round brings the total amount raised to $85 million, accelerating the company’s mission to help the world’s largest companies meet new data processing demands so they can adapt and learn in real-time. MemSQL will use the funds to accelerate growth across the company including engineering, sales, support, and marketing. MemSQL continues to assemble a team of database and infrastructure experts delivering the most innovative approaches to real-time analytics … Offering some insight into the MemSQL funding and the in-memory database space is the following commentary from VoltDB’s President and CEO, Bruce Reading:
The in-memory database market is maturing at a rapid pace – investments like this float all in-memory boats. Organizations around the world need in-memory solutions to meet the speed demands of next-generation applications for sensor data and the Internet of Things. The tremendous opportunity of streaming data has increased demand for in-memory operational databases like VoltDB, that not only perform analytics and conduct transactions in milliseconds, but does so ensuring data is immediately consistent and always correct, a requirement for mission critical applications. For example, VoltDB powers mission-critical applications at a global 20 bank and several international telecommunications providers, where consistency is required to drive true business value. For many new IoT and real-time-driven applications, operational approaches to processing, analyzing and acting on real-time data deliver unmatched efficiency improvements.”
Here’s a tip for those wishing to kick-start themselves into the world of data science and programming with the SAS language: UK-based World Programing made its WPS industrial analytics and data science software available for free with the introduction of an Express Edition license. The WPS Express Edition is available for Windows and Mac OS X and includes all the features of the Standard Edition but with a restriction on the volume of data that can be processed and is not for production use. The license is for individuals, not companies, and can be used at home or at work. The Express Edition is ideal for anyone interested in learning to analyze data with industrial analytics tools but with zero financial outlay. Anyone can access the Express Edition, not just students. It will also benefit those who may use SAS language at work and want to learn more at home … Heard on the street that MarketShare, a Neustar Solution and global leader in advanced marketing analytics software, revealed it has been selected by Audi UK to better understand its customers’ journeys and optimise its marketing spend. Using the holistic planning and attribution solution, MarketShare DecisionCloud, Audi will be able to fully understand the true value of each marketing activity as well as customer interaction, and predict the effectiveness of future marketing investments … And IoT keeps on its upward ascent with Teradata
Another trend that is getting increasing traction within the DBMS space is a demand for more efficient deployment and consumption of cloud-based services… Enter the concept of “big data as a service,” where vendors are combining components of analytic platforms in the cloud with multiple processing engines, hybrid on-premises integration, and secure data movement. The use of such services can speed up the adoption of analytics in the cloud, address skills shortages within the enterprise, and make it easier to transition from, and integrate with, existing on-premises investments.”
South Africa-headquartered technology company, Dimension Data, and leader in networking, Cisco, disclosed an initiative aimed at dramatically reducing the number of rhinos being poached in South Africa. The two companies have deployed some of the world’s most sophisticated technology in an unnamed private game reserve adjacent to the world-renowned Kruger National Park to monitor and track individuals from the time they enter the reserve gates, until they exit. The goal is to proactively intervene and stop people entering the reserve illegally – whether it’s cutting fences, being dropped onto the ground by helicopters, or simply driving in through the entrance gates.
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