Today, two mainstream technologies are the center of concern in IT – Big Data and Cloud Computing. Fundamentally different, Big data is all about dealing with the massive scale of data whereas Cloud computing is about infrastructure. The combination of both yields beneficial outcome for the organizations. Not to mention, both the technologies are in the stage of evolution but their combination leverages scalable and cost-effective solution in big data analytics. Big data and Cloud computing both the technologies are valuable on its own. Furthermore, many businesses are targeting to combine the two techniques to reap more business benefits. Both the technologies aim to enhance the revenue of the company while reducing the investment cost. While Cloud manages the local software, Big data helps in business decisions.

Big Data and Cloud Computing

Big data deals with massive structured, semi-structured or unstructured data to store and process it for data analysis purpose. There are five aspects of Big Data which are described through 5Vs

Cloud providers offer three primary services, these services are:

Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS)

Here the service provider offers entire infrastructure along with the maintenance related tasks.

Platform as a Service (PAAS)

The Cloud provider offers resources like object storage, runtime, queuing, databases, etc. However, the responsibility of configuration and implementation related tasks depend on the consumer.

Software as a Service (SAAS)

This service is the most facilitated one which provides all the necessary settings and infrastructure provides IaaS for the platform and infrastructure are in place.

Cloud Computing Role for Big Data

Big data and Cloud computing relationship can be categorized based on service types:

IAAS in Public Cloud

IaaS is a cost-effective solution and utilizing this Cloud service, Big Data services enable people to access unlimited storage and compute power. It is a very cost-effective solution for enterprises where the Cloud provider bears all the expenses of managing underlying hardware.

PAAS in Private Cloud

PaaS vendors incorporate Big Data technologies into their offered service. Hence, they eliminate the need for dealing with the complexities of managing single software and hardware elements which is a real concern while dealing with terabytes of data.

LINK: Big Data vs Cloud