Linked Data: Connecting and Exploiting Big Data

Whilst big data may represent a step forward in business intelligence and analytics, Fujitsu sees particular additional value in linking and exploiting big data for business benefit. Only once we bring together myriad data sources to provide a single reference point can we start to derive new value. Until then, we simply risk creating new data silos.

Big data is a term that has risen to prominence describing data that exceeds the processing capacity of conventional database systems. With many solutions entering the marketplace it’s all too easy to focus on the technology that allows big data processing for real-time business analytics and yet to lose sight of the long-term goal of integrating many data sources to provide even potential.

This paper has been written for Chief Technology Officers and senior architects in order to set out some of the challenges that big data solutions may bring and to suggest one approach that Fujitsu feels has the potential to provide particular value the use of linked data to integrate data sources and better enable the exploitation of data to meet the challenges of the business, namely an expectation of near real-time business intelligence, free from the technology limitations that are imposed by a particular database structure.

The paper explains the concept of big data before examining the various approaches taken to data management in an enterprise IT context, explaining why each approach presents its own challenges. Some readers may wish to skip this section of the report and move straight to page 8, which examines the functions that a big data solution must perform, before the paper considers the related concept of linked data and its potential to act as a unifying technology, along with the associated architectural patterns. We then examine the integration of big data and linked data within an organization, including the challenges that need to be addressed before providing a view of the future of data, summary and conclusions.

Throughout the paper, extensive reference is made to a variety of third party and Fujitsu resources that have been used.