Big Data (Hadoop) On Windows 8

Are you interested in playing with BigData on your on Windows 8 laptop?

A quick recap of what is BigData & why:

Why BigData:

All business systems need data. Customer names. Transaction history. Time of punch in. Data is stored in databases, more specifically, relational databases. Data in a relational databases are stored in pre-defined tables. The pre-defined tables dictate what the database can hold. In the example of a customer address database, the typical fields are name, address, phone number. This pre-defined table is also called a data schema.

There is an entire art to how data schema should be defined. This was called the Entity Relation modeling (ER). Several techniques were published, including Crow's foot notation, to help create this.  In addition, database bases were normalized for optimal efficiencies. Databases were graded on how normalized the database is - using the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th/6th normal form as a metric. Examples of database normalization include no duplicate data, only one entry per column (so no arrays), unique indexing, etc.

This type of pre-defined data schema worked for multiple decades - until the advent of the internet and the myriads of new types of data : text, e-mail, audio, video, images, social media. Also scale was an issue. Databases were being asked to a lot than its pre-bigdata version, driven by the 4 Vs of bigdata :  variety, velocity, voracity, volume.

Most of us (in this field) probably have experimented with relational databases such as MySQL, Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, etc. What to do if you want to try out BigData at home? Follow me through these steps!


Here is a high level diagram:

1.  CDH - Cloudera Distribution including Hadoop is an open source Hadoop

2. Redis

Supply Chain Driving Transformation - Via Digital Technology

Supply Chain Is Driving Business Transformation


It was apparent that supply chain organizations were chartered to drive business transformation. And three distinct strategies was emerging : 1) supply chain needs to help drive top level revenue growth 2) supply chain needs to creatively decrease cost and increase operational efficiencies 3) supply chain needs to enable the business to adapt to a dynamic market - or die. 

The three strategies supply chain organization is helping to drive business

In the “help drive top level revenue growth” camp, one company was experiencing hyper organic growth (a waxing salon company). Another was a new business with a clear unique value proposition (wholesale clubhouse style purchase to your door). To support growth, these growing companies tend to focus on strategic sourcing, modern e-commerce “on demand” fulfillment, and exceptional customer experience. Supply chain is in the critical path of growing the company - being able to source critical raw materials, being able to fulfill shipment immediately, and being able to give highly accurate ETA, real time tracking.

 In the "creatively improve operational efficiencies" camp, companies were sharing ways to improve the bottom line in a highly competitive environment. Supply chain operations were more focused on supplier & procurement consolidation - to drive cost management and improve communication efficiencies, more realistic and demand driven planning, and better inventory management to reduce discounts. 

The "adapting to a dynamic market" camp was the most interesting of all, because many of us grew up with some of these brands. Listening to what these fading brands are experiencing as it is being outflanked by newer and nimble companies - and what they are doing to survive and thrive.