»
INDUSTRY FOCUS
Tanya Duncan, managing director, Interxion Ireland
BIG BUSINESS FOR IRELAND Donal Flavin, vice-president of the information and communication technologies division at the IDA, believes big data could mean big business for Ireland. “There is a massive amount of data being generated every
day. This is beginning to be viewed as a strategic asset and one that could potentially have the equivalent value of a brand. The ability to manipulate huge volumes of data is still at an early stage but there is a lot of potential in this area,” he says. Flavin is keen to highlight the many advantages Ireland
has in becoming a big data hub. These include the presence of nine of the top 10 global software companies here, talent availability, a competitive corporate tax rate and a supportive R&D infrastructure. “The recognition by Government of big data as an area of
growth is important for Ireland. In making it a priority area for support, they are strengthening the ecosystem out there for big data,” he notes. Flavin believes there are a large number of industries here
that could benefit from big data and is particularly optimistic about opportunities in the manufacturing sector.
KEY BIG DATA STATISTICS
n The big data market is expected to grow from US$3.2bn in 2010 to US $16.9bn in 2015
n Data worldwide is growing 40pc per year n 2.5 quintillion bytes are created per day n 35pc of the world’s photographs are on Facebook n 72 hours of footage is uploaded to YouTube every minute n 124 billion tweets are sent every year n 6.1 trillion text messages are sent globally each year
n Two-thirds of companies now describe themselves as ‘data driven’
n EU government administrators could save €100bn in operational efficiency improvements using big data
(Stats: IDC, McKinsey, Cap Gemini, CIA, World Bank) 22 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW Issue 7 Autumn/Winter 2013
“Data analytics could be particularly
good in areas such as predictive maintenance where machinery sensors would be able to provide data on how parts are working. This would ensure that
if anything needs to be replaced, it is done when the assembly line is not running. Technology company EMC, which employs approximately
3,000 people in Ireland, is among those hoping to become a big player in big data. It recently announced a €100m expansion of its research centre in Cork, on the back of plans to expand into big data and cloud computing. The firm also announced a link-up with University College Cork (UCC) and the Irish Management Institute to introduce new big data courses. Interxion, a leading European operator of data centres with
two facilities in Ireland, is also optimistic about the potential from big data. “Big data is the natural continuation of IT,” says Tanya Duncan, managing director of Interxion Ireland. “From the first machine processing data faster than a human, the phenomenon of Moore’s Law, which holds that computing power doubles every two years, keeps driving the pace of development.” Referring to a study carried out on behalf of Interxion on
understanding the implications of big data, Duncan notes that only 25pc of firms in Europe have made the business case for it at this point. “Ireland does not materially lag in this. The issue for
Ireland is the same as other European countries and that is the need to align IT with the business and treat it as a strategic imperative,” she says.
GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT In addition to establishing a big data task force earlier this year, the Government has put its money where its mouth is by announcing a €1m initial investment to support CeADAR. Its initial research programme will look at technology challenges to data analytics that have been identified by industry partners such as eBay, Dell and Accenture. The State has also invested heavily in the Insight Centre
for Data Analytics. The centre, which was established by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) with funding of €75m, is a joint initiative between UCD, the National University of Ireland at Galway, UCC and Dublin City University. According to Prof Barry Smyth, chief executive of the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80