Unstructured data is on the rise, and ready to engulf current data management systems, a new survey shows. In addition, many corporate managers do not understand the challenge that is looming, and are failing to recognize the significance of unstructured data assets to the business.
These are the findings of a newly released survey of 264 data managers and professionals who are subscribers to Database Trends and Applications. The survey was conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc., in partnership with MarkLogic earlier this year.
The study confirms that many organizations are struggling with big data, which they define as any large-size data store that becomes unmanageable by standard technologies or methods. According to the research, 12% of respondents support more than a petabyte of data, and another 32% say they have data volumes in the hundreds of terabytes.
Unstructured data, such as business documents and graphical files, is the most difficult to manage, say respondents. Respondents view big data as a challenge that traditional enterprise relational database are not up to the task of handling.
Three-fifths of respondents state that they are examining new technologies to help them better capture and manage large volumes of data, and 42% say they are already investing in new solutions.
According to the survey, adoption of non-relational databases is increasing as big data expands, but respondents are worried about the skills sets needed to deliver solutions on these platforms. Cloud computing is also increasingly planned to be deployed or already in use, but there are concerns about security. Moreover, many organizations are using open source technologies within their environments, but have reservations about security there as well, in addition to concerns about support.
To access the full report, "Big Data is Real and It is Here - 2012 Survey on Managing Big and Unstructured Data," go to the MarkLogic website at http://info.marklogic.com/post-relational-reality-dbta-survey-2012.html.