Big Data and the Cloud are Changing Everything: Thoughts on Day 2 of Cloud Expo

We’re having a great time at Cloud Expo this week! It’s not often you have the best minds in cloud and big data under the same roof, so we’re making the most out of all the sessions, booths and delegates. The major focus of the show is on the different ways that businesses can streamline how they access data.

To align with the theme of the day, Jaime Meritt, director of product management, and Jesse Davis, director of research and development, presented on the impact of big data and cloud on data connectivity. During the session, they explained how to overcome the challenges of accessing data in a world where Software as a Service prevails. Storing data in the cloud is all well and good – if you can access it. But if it’s not easy accessible, then it gets old and is no longer useful in your business decisions.

This session led perfectly into an exciting announcement that we put out at the show! We are now offering a DataDirect Cloud service that makes it easy to unlock critical data that is stored in the cloud, in data sources such as SaaS CRM, Social Network Feeds, and SaaS ERP. We’ve simplified SQL access to a broad spectrum of cloud-based data sources through a single standards-based interface. If this sounds of interest, we are offering beta access to the program beginning January 2013.

Check out the video below of a singing flash mob that helped us announce the new cloud service!

We also really enjoyed a session given by John Engates, CTO at Rackspace, on the internet of things. Additionally, John provided insight into the difference between an open and closed cloud and where both are heading. Jesse and Jamie reflect on John’s keynote and the rest of the Cloud Expo sessions below.

Want to learn more about our cloud solution? Stop by booth 409 at the show or find us at one of our upcoming sessions! If you can’t make it but still want to stay in the know about Cloud Expo happenings, follow our Twitter stream on the @DataDirect_News handle or stay up-to-date with the #CloudExpo hashtag. We will also be posting additional roundups on our blog!