Big Data Equals Big Opportunities

This week the Obama administration put out a new initiative for Big Data. Six agencies (DoD, DoE, DARPA, NIH, NSF, and USGS) have dedicated over $200 million to ensure this is a successful program. John Holdren, assistant to the president, stated that many more agencies will be involved in the future. NASA and NOAA will be the next agencies to enter the big data push. These are especially important because of the quantity of data they both collect. The government plans to close over 450 data centers nation wide. This will require data centers to be more robust in all aspects. This incluudes server’s space availability to meeting all cyber security standards. With fewer data centers the new data centers will store and process larger amounts of data. This will also allow for agencies to have better communication and be more efficient in their efforts.

This new push for big data asks one very important question: “The challenge is, what do we do with all the data we are using?” which was originally asked by GSA’s Dave McClure. Subra Suresh, director of NSF outlined six specific areas that her agency is working on moving to big data. DoD is betting big on big data and is investing $250 million annually across all military branches. The big data initiative will increase cooperation and collaboration among agencies and can truly unlock the power of big data.

Additionally, another report was released this week from the Obama administration highlighting ongoing federal programs that are addressing the challenges of big data. To track the future of big data visit Data.gov