“The information age is an idea that the current era will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been very difficult or impossible to find previously” Wikipedia.
Computer miniaturization advances plus the internet reaching a critical mass is shaping the modern society. The social generation expects that second and third tier web to be 7x24: MySpace has supported over 4.4M concurrent users, gambling site bWin running 30,000 transactions per second. Data volumes are exploding with event data streaming from sources such as RFID, sensors and web logs – the ability to monitor, analyze and act before information gets stored provides opportunity to more a new “near real-time”.
The consumerization of technology is here but according to IDC, more than 20% of enterprise IT spending goes to acquire and service mission critical workloads. This week, I started a new role at Microsoft Corp. as Director of Technical Product Management for SQL Server. I’m very exited to lead the future of the database: where it runs today and and on highly balanced Appliances that integrate hardware (CPU, IO, storage), software reference architectures for specific workloads. e.g. the Fast Track Data Warehouse. Stay tuned for the PASS 2010 summit.
The application platform for the “Unlimited information era” will be the result of the many changes I will continue discussing on this blog… PLEASE VOTE and collaborate of my proposed “Future of non-cloud databases and application platform” session at SXSW.