An SMC Perspective on Big Data: A Disruptive Innovation to Embrace

In 2015, it is projected that about 7.5 zettabytes (ZB, or 1021 B) of digital data are being generated worldwide by everything from underground physics experiments to retail transactions to security cameras to global positioning systems. In the United States, major research programs are being funded to deal with Big Data in all five sectors (i.e., services, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and mining) of the economy. Big Data is a term applied to data sets whose size is beyond the ability of available tools to undertake their acquisition, access, analytics, and/or application in a reasonable amount of time.