Big Data.. How'd You Get So Big?

Article from NY Times "How Big Data Became So Big"

We love the term 'Big Data', it is changing the way the world sees (and uses) data and that is creating big opportunities for growth, development, business, marketing - the list goes on. This article by the New York Times goes into detail looking at how data became so.. big.

“The term itself is vague, but it is getting at something that is real,” says Jon Kleinberg, a computer scientist at Cornell University. “Big Data is a tagline for a process that has the potential to transform everything.”

Read More..

BIS² becomes World Leader in Advanced Analytics!

TDWI Names BIS² World Leader in Advanced Analytics in 2012 Best Practices Awards

BIS² as Solution Sponsor for Seminole Gaming Named 1st Place in the Advanced Analytics Category of the TDWI 2012 Best Practices Awards

BIS² announced today that it has been recognized by The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) as the world-wide winner of the Advanced Analytics category in the 2012 Best Practice Awards. BIS² was the Solution Sponsor for Seminole Gaming of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, in the Advanced Analytics category.

TDWI is the premier provider of in-depth, high-quality education and training in business intelligence (BI) and data warehousing (DW).

“This award truly validates BIS² as a world leader in advanced analytics,” said Andrew Cardno, BIS² Chief Technology Officer. “The powerful visual queries, our innovative Super Graphics, and the ability to exploit the power of detailed data really put the BIS² technology on the world stage. Our customers are really enjoying one of our latest innovations of being able to dig deep into their data and truly understand customer preferences. In addition, our “War Room” strategy for big data analytics is a huge success with our customers and is changing the way the world looks at big data,” Cardno added.

“We are very excited to receive this prestigious award from TDWI recognizing what we have achieved with our Advanced Analytics at Seminole Gaming,” said Ralph Thomas, Seminole Gaming Vice President Strategic Analytics and Database Marketing. “BIS² has been a fantastic business intelligence technology partner for us. Their collaboration and thought leadership enables us to deliver well beyond expectations. It has been an amazing time for us with BIS²,” added Thomas.

"It was a tremendous honor to sponsor Seminole Gaming and to be named the world-wide winner of the Advanced Analytics category of the 2012 Best Practice Awards,” said Mukesh Gordhan, BIS² CEO. “With the BIS² software, under the analytics leadership of Dr. Ralph Thomas, Seminole Gaming has achieved some amazing results. It is a true accolade to the world-class BIS2 software, the Seminole Team, and also reflects what our other customers have also been able to achieve with our software,” Gordhan added.   

“As the premier provider of BI/DW education, TDWI is pleased to honor organizations that have developed and implemented innovative solutions,” said Richard Zbylut, president of TDWI. “This year’s Best Practices Awards winners showcase an array of bold, new strategies in our industry, and TDWI is happy to help share that work with a larger audience. BI/DW teams looking to take their solutions to the next level can look to the award winners for ideas and inspiration to continue innovating in the field.”

TDWI's Best Practices Awards program is designed to identify and honor companies that have demonstrated excellence in developing, deploying, and maintaining BI and DW applications. Companies from diverse industries and sponsoring solution providers submitted entries that were judged in a variety of categories. The nominated solutions were evaluated based on business impact, maturity, innovation, and relevance.

The Best Practices Awards winners will be honored at the TDWI World Conference, which will take place July 29 -
August 3, 2012 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego, CA.

 

About TDWI

TDWI, a division of 1105 Media, Inc., is the premier provider of in-depth, high-quality education and research in the business intelligence and data warehousing industry. TDWI is dedicated to educating business and information technology professionals about the best practices, strategies, techniques, and tools required to successfully design, build, maintain, and enhance business intelligence and data warehousing solutions. TDWI also fosters the advancement of business intelligence and data warehousing research and contributes to knowledge transfer and the professional development of its members. TDWI offers a worldwide membership program, five major educational conferences, topical educational seminars, role-based training, onsite courses, certification, solution provider partnerships, an awards program for best practices, live Webinars, resourceful publications, an in-depth research program, and a comprehensive website: tdwi.org

 

About Seminole Gaming

In addition to its two Seminole Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos in Tampa and Hollywood, Fla., the Seminole Tribe owns and operates five more Seminole-branded Florida casinos in Coconut Creek and Hollywood on the Southeast coast, in Immokalee near Naples, on the Brighton Reservation north of Lake Okeechobee and on the Big Cypress Reservation south of Lake Okeechobee. The Seminole Tribe has long been recognized for innovation in its gaming and other businesses. It opened the first high-stakes bingo hall and casino in the United States in 1979. That facility was the forerunner of the Indian Gaming movement throughout North America.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida acquired Hard Rock International, Inc. and other related entities from The Rank Group Plc in 2007 for approximately $965 million. The purchase is the first of a major international corporation by a Native American Indian Tribe and marks a milestone in the growing economic power and prominence of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and other Indian tribes in today's business world. For more information, please see, Seminole Gaming.

 

About BIS²

BIS²’s multi-award winning gaming industry solution, called gameViz™, enables casino operators to better understand player behavior and how to optimize the gaming floor to gain a greater competitive advantage. The innovative Super Graphics™ contained within the BIS2 technology enable casino operators to rapidly identify, action and monitor changes to improve both revenue and profit performance. BIS² is an innovative leader in enterprise-ready, standards-based, visually-centric analytics with solutions that reveal the trends and patterns in volumes of operational data so organizations can understand what actions are required now and tomorrow. The BIS² software products have been recognized with multiple awards such as Gaming and Leisure Magazine’s Technology Impact award and their Product Interoperability award, and Casino Enterprise Managements Top 10 Slot Floor products to name a few. Other industry specific solutions available from BIS² include airViz™ (for airlines), clubViz™ (for premiere clubs), resortViz™ (for resort operators), telViz™ (for telcos), insuranceViz™ (for insurance companies), retailViz™ (for retailers), entertainmentViz™ (for entertainment companies), makeViz™ (for manufacturing companies) and moneyViz™ (for financial institutions). BIS2’s most recent product release, crmViz™ (for customer analytics) is receiving outstanding customer acclaim. For more information, please call 1-877-592-2472 or visit www.bis2.net.
Contact: Veronica Ruffo, email: veronica.ruffo@bis2.net, phone: 1-877-592-2472

 

 Article Link: UN commits to use of ‘big data’

Article Via The Information Daily (formerly eGovmonitor)

Great to see that the global leaders who are dealing with such immense issues are jumping on the big data band wagon – as Jim Barksdale (former CEO of Netscape) said:

"If we have data, lets look at data. If we all have opinions, let's go with mine." (Quote via Romain Lacombe: ‏@rlacombe)

Read more here. 

Article via Theodore Angelus: ‏@teddy777

BIS2 on Twitter: @BIS2Media 

IBM's City Forward Project

A beautiful video introducing IBM's new City Forward initiative. Collaboration is an exciting way forward, and it's great to see another platform for sharing, learning and co-operating between people and business to indeed, move cities forward.



Read about the project here on the City Forward website or here on techli

Find the City Forward project on twitter: @cityforward
Find Bis² on twitter: @BIS2Media

7.0 Earthquake Shakes New Zealand 5/07/2012

In light of last nights earthquake, we've got tremors on the brain, and several powerful visualizations of earth shaking data have come to light.

This one on the Christchurch quakes is distressingly varied, intense and lengthy. Our hearts go out to everyone dealing with both the quakes themselves and the trying aftermath.

This video shows the progress and intensity of the Japan earthquakes that caused the devastating tsunami in March of last year. It just goes to show how powerful visualizations are, where no language is necessary to describe the magnitude of the shaking. Frightening stuff.

Pictured: From this article on  the work of data visualizer Josh Nelson, a visualization of global earthquake data collected since 1898.

Be safe!

Article Link: Platforms for Big Data

Article Via CUBRID Blog

A compelling and comprehensive look at big data platforms. Read more here.

BIS2 at The Canadian Gaming Summit

BIS2 recently attended the Canadian Gaming Summit in Niagara Falls, ON. It was a beautiful location, and a great chance to talk to some of the key players in the field.

We've made a short video with some of the photos from the event.

Thank you to everyone involved!

Article Link: Make Data Work Throughout Your Organization

Article Via Harvard Business Review

Some great insights into the social and organizational benefits of adopting data into your business.

Read more here.

Infographic: How Much Data is Created Every Minute?

Via Visual News


Infographic by Visual News

Great job by the creative thinkers at Domo.

Infographic: Venus Transit of the Sun: A 2012 Observer's Guide 

Via Space.com

Great example of portraying complex ideas in pictorial form. Love this infographic from Space.com on the transit of Venus across the Sun as seen from our vantage point.

Article Link: 7 Opinions on Big Data: Defining It, Using It, Storing It and More

Article Via Insurance Tech 

Nice to hear some thoughts on Big Data from the community. Read more here.

"It's estimated that there's a 66% probability that at least one of the cars involved in an accident with a lawsuit involved has an event data recorder. We have the ability to import the data from that into a claim file. It would turn every adjuster into a sort of CSI investigator."

—Greg Horn, VP of Industry Relations for Mitchell International

Infographic: Big Data

Infographic Via The Next Web

Well, we love infographics, and we love Big Data—and here's a combination of the two! Click on the image to see the full infographic over at The Next Web.

Article Link: Big Data Problem Plagues Government Agencies

Article via CIO

Government agencies are collecting vast amounts of data, but they're struggling just to store it, let alone analyze it to improve efficiency, accuracy and forecasts.

"Government has a gold mine of data at its fingertips," says Mark Weber, president of U.S. Public Sector for NetApp, underwriter of MeriTalk's report. "The key is turning that data into high-quality information that can increase efficiencies and inform decisions. Agencies need to look at Big Data solutions that can help them efficiently process, analyze, manage and access data, enabling them to more effectively execute their missions."

Read more here

Article Link – Bankers want big data analytics

Article via Jaspersoft

"...the area that will define the financial sector over the next few years is big data analytics..."

Click here to read the full article.

Article Link – Benefits of Using Data to Make Decisions: Guest Post by Erin Palmer

Article via Smart Data Collective

A wonderfully well-written article by Erin Palmer outlining some of the benefits of using data to make better business decisions. Click here to read the full article.

Data Anatomy by Ryoji Ikeda

Berlin, 19 April – 1st May

"data.anatomy [civic] is a new audiovisual installation by Ryoji Ikeda, arising from a unique collaboration with Mitsuru Kariya, the development leader of the new Honda Civic.
Exhibited as a 3-screen video projection, data.anatomy [civic] immerses viewers in an intricate yet vast audiovisual composition derived from the entire data set of the car... "

For more images and videos of the exhibition, see here.

In the comments of this Creative Applications article, someone suggests that this project is "beautiful but at the end its really really flat", apparently referring to the fact that the installation is fairly commercial in purpose and lacking in depth. But regardless of the purpose of the installation, it remains just that. An installation. Art is subjective by nature.

In this day and age where data is such a relevant hot topic, it's interesting that companies are adopting creative means of associating with the data deluge. Information design seems to becoming a popular aesthetic, and businesses taking advantage of this popularity also means those artists and creators such as Ryoji Ikeda who contribute to the field are being given a platform to share their work.

It's also interesting to see the increasing adoption of art and creativity as a means of reaching an audience, both to explain and discuss products and to reach customers on an emotional level.

About Ryoji Ikeda

Japan’s leading electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda focuses on the minutiae of ultrasonics, frequencies and the essential characteristics of sound itself. His work exploits sound’s physical property, its causality with human perception and mathematical dianoia as music, time and space. Using computer and digital technology, Ikeda has been developing particular “microscopic” methods for sound engineering and composition. Since 1995 he has been intensely active in sound art through concerts, installations and recordings: the albums +/- (1996), 0 degrees (1998) and Matrix (2000) have been hailed by critics as the most radical and innovative examples of contemporary electronic music. With Carsten Nicolai, he works the collaborative project ‘cyclo.’, which examines error structures and repetitive loops in software and computer programmed music, with audiovisual modules for real time sound visualization. The versatile range of his research is also demonstrated by the collaborations with choreographer William Forsythe/Frankfurt Ballett, contemporary artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, architect Toyo Ito and artist collective Dumb Type, among others. Ryoji Ikeda received the Golden Nica prize at Prix Ars Electronica 2001 in the Digital Music category.

Journalism in the age of data
A documentary from Geoff McGhee, Produced during a 2009-2010 John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University.

Journalism in the age of data is a fantastic documentary from Geoff McGhee on data journalism. If you're interested in data visualization or want to gain a better understanding into its place in today's world, this video gives a wonderful insight into the growing industry from some of the most prominent figures in the field.

The hour long documentary covers trends and different approaches to the subject, highlighting the growing popularity in the genre of information graphics across many sectors, with organizations from governments to cable television stations seeking interactive visualizations of their data in an effort to communicate multitudes of business information.

As more and more data becomes available, the importance of condensing and articulating that data is increasing. Also pertinent to the influx of data are privacy issues; where does the data come from? What is public information and how can it be used? As Sarah Slobin suggests in the documentary "Transparency is the new black".

It's exciting to see the leaps and bounds made by the talented and passionate people driving this movement, with advances in technology and software programming giving rise to pushing the envelope of communication and information derived from data.

See the video below, on Vimeo here, or watch the full version with annotations and links here.


 

About Geoff McGhee

GEOFF McGHEE is an online journalist specializing in multimedia and information graphics. Over the past decade he has worked at The New York Times and ABCNews.com, and in France at Le Monde Interactif. In 2009-2010, he spent a John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University studying data visualization. In July 2010, McGhee began a new job developing visualizations and interactive content for the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford

Article Link: "Data explosion and big data demand new strategies for data management, backup and recovery, say experts"


Article via Briefings Direct

Excerpts from an interview with John Maxwell and Jerome Wendt. The full interview is available to download as a podcast or as a transcript.

To share insights into why data recovery needs a new approach and how that can be accomplished, the next BriefingsDirect discussion joins two experts, John Maxwell, Vice President of Product Management for Data Protection at Quest Software, and Jerome Wendt, President and Lead Analyst of DCIG, an independent storage analyst and consulting firm. The discussion is moderated by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.

Read and listen here.

Article Link: Big Data Reality Check

Article Via Health Data Management

"The promise of business gems from big data may be more of a long-range goal as enterprises work through their own issues with BI systems and unstructured content uses, according to a new report from non-profit information management professionals group, AIIM."

Read more here

Field.io

Marcus Wendt of Field Studio is one of the speakers this year at Eyeo Festival. Looking through Field's projects, we came across the making of the video 'Ariel' for Stateless. The music video itself is a beautiful piece of information design, creating and extending organic digital shapes over a dancer's choreography: "Letting it dance based on the motion data"– Vera-Maria Glahn


See the final video here.

FIELD is a creative studio for digital art and generative design in London, founded by Marcus Wendt and Vera-Maria Glahn. In search of a new digital aesthetic, their dynamic and expressive artworks take shape in large scale installations, animation, print, and on mobile platforms.

FIELD is a new type of creative team with a strong artistic agenda and an entrepreneurial spirit. With a diverse range of collaborators, FIELD has created work for clients and institutions such as Deutsche Bank, GF Smith, the Museum of London, Ninja Tune, and the Red Bull Music Academy, while their experimental films and installations have been shown at festivals and galleries around Europe and in the U.S.

EYEO Festival

This week the Eyeo Festival is being held in Minneapolis, MN. A four day event boasting some of the information industry's most talented data scientists, including more than a few of our favorites; Stefanie Posavec; Aaron Koblin; Manuel Lima; Jer Thorp; Ben Fry and so many more.

"It’s an exciting time to be interested in art, interaction, and information. The way we experience all three is changing. The way all three interact and overlap is evolving. Access to data and tools continues to enter new realms.  What data is—is changing; It’s a social media feed, it’s a physical sensor, it’s a house plant, a novel, it’s open access to oceans of digitized archives and more and more APIs.  What can we do with all this data? What can’t we do? Artists, designers and coders build and bend technology and give us a glimpse into what’s possible, into what’s next. Ones and zeros float all around us just waiting to deliver the next new interaction.  The Eyeo Festival brings together the most intriguing and exciting people in these arenas today." – excerpt from the Eyeo Festival website

According to the registration page, Festival Passes went on sale February 1st and sold out in 8 hours. If you didn't manage to get a ticket in time, you can check out work from the talented speakers here and have a look at some of last years' speakers here. I imagine the hashtag #eyeo on twitter will also keep you updated on highlights from the event.

Eyeo on Twitter: @eyeofestival
Bis2 on Twitter: @BIS2Media

Stunning Hand-Rendered Business Intelligence Visualizations from 1870

These beautiful Visualizations posted in an article over at FastCo depict various ideas and issues from the 19th century in all of their stunning hand-rendered glory.

Pictured left: "This is a beautiful rendering of church-going in the US. Interestingly, rather than show non-churchgoers as a separate bar, they are relegated to a grey box around the outside." Timo Elliot

Read and see more here and here.

Station Casinos Selects BIS²’s Multi-Award Winning Software

BIS²’s gameViz software to provide advanced gaming analytics for Las Vegas’ Station Casinos

San Diego, CA – May 31st, 2012 - BIS² today announced that Station Casinos, the leading provider of gaming and entertainment to Las Vegas residents, has chosen to install BIS²’s gameViz™ software to take Station Casinos' gaming and analytical capabilities to the next level.

"We were on an extensive search for a best of breed product that would complement our advanced analytics with slot centric player information. The BIS² software achieves our goal by opening up a whole new dimension to drive better decisions. It enables us to truly understand player behavior through robust visual tools. We are very excited about the BIS² technology and how it can help us either reinforce our current philosphies or adjust them through quantitative data,” stated Brian Eby, Corporate Vice President of Slot Operations for Station Casinos.

“The BIS² software provides huge value in terms of driving slot floor performance and operators are now looking to our software as a way to get a more complete understanding of player activity and preferences on their property. The BIS² software makes decision-making easy. From player valuation, to asset optimization, the BIS² software empowers casino executives to optimize revenue and bottom line results,” said Mukesh Gordhan, BIS² CEO. “We are very impressed with Station Casinos operations and management team, and we are extremely pleased with their decision to install our software,” Gordhan added.

“Our new super advanced analytics to identify revenue efficiency from game changes and displacement of revenue is being welcomed as a long awaited market need by many casino operators,” said Andrew Cardno, BIS² CTO. “We use our Super Graphics and other special techniques to present data at a user-level and also in a corporate-style war-room environment to communicate what is really going on in the business,” Cardno added.

“We are very pleased to be representing BIS² in this sale with Station Casinos”, states Jon Zimmerman, President of Casino Business Strategies, a BIS² partner. “I have been an operator in the gaming industry for many years and I see the BIS² technology as highly innovative and an essential analytics tool for casino operators today,” added Zimmerman.

BIS²’s gameViz™ industry solution is a data visualization BI software solution that allows casino operators to directly interrogate their data without the requirement for ETL, and view the results visually using innovative and powerful Super Graphics. It represents the next generation of advanced data visualization software for strategic, operational, and analytical users of gaming data. Users are able to understand and take action on their gaming data in a new way. Using BIS²'s Super Graphics to view complex analysis provides a better way to understand data and quickly identify patterns, trends and improvement opportunities.

About Station Casinos LLC

Station Casinos LLC is the leading provider of gaming and entertainment to the residents of Las Vegas, Nevada. The Company’s properties include various amenities, including numerous restaurants, entertainment venues, movie theaters, bowling and convention/banquet space, as well as traditional casino gaming offerings such as video poker, slot machines, table games, bingo and race and sports wagering. The Company owns 17 properties including: Boulder Station, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, Green Valley Ranch, Palace Station, Red Rock Resort, Santa Fe Station, Sunset Station, Texas Station, Days Inn at Wild Wild West and the Wildfire Gaming division that includes Barley’s Brewery, The Greens, Gold Rush, Lake Mead Lounge, Wildfire Casino & Lanes, Wildfire Boulder and Wildfire Rancho. The Company also manages Aliante Station pursuant to a management agreement. Additionally, Station Casinos LLC owns various land holdings and develops and/or manages tribal gaming opportunities in California and Michigan pursuant to development and management agreements. For more information on Station Casinos visit www.stationcasinos.com.

About BIS²

BIS²’s gaming industry solution, called gameViz™, enables casino operators to view and analyze data sets that provide the vital insights needed to gain a competitive advantage. With BIS²’s Super Graphics™, casinos can rapidly adapt to changes by gaining data insights from both within and outside the enterprise. BIS² is an innovative leader in enterprise-ready, standards-based, visually-centric analytics with solutions that reveal the trends and patterns in volumes of operational data so organizations can understand what actions are required now and tomorrow. The BIS² software products have been recognized with multiple awards such as Gaming and Leisure Magazine’s Technology Impact award and their Product Interoperability award and Casino Enterprise Managements Top 10 Slot Floor products to name a few. Other industry specific solutions available from BIS² include airViz™ (for airlines), clubViz™ (for premiere clubs), resortsViz™ (for resort operators), telViz™ (for telcos), insuranceViz™ (for insurance companies), retailViz™ (for retailers), entertainmentViz™ (for entertainment companies), makeViz™ (for manufacturing companies) and moneyViz™ (for financial institutions). For more information, please call 1-877-592-2472 or visit www.bis2.net.

Coffee Vs Tea Infographic

This infographic found on econsultancy is refreshing in a sector that is being inundated with over-complicated presentations. Comparing the benefits and dangers of two of the most prevalent hot drinks in the world, each section is clearly laid out and beautifully illustrated. Great use of the bar graph! It's also making us re-think our forth coffee of the day...

See the full version here.

Sabre AirVision Global Conference

BIS² attended the Sabre AirVision Global Conference last week in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. We showcased with Sabre Airline Solutions, the integration of BIS²'s multi-award winning Super Graphics with the Sabre® AirVision™ Profit Manager product. Thank you to everyone involved!
Here is a short video of the event:

Riviera Black Hawk Casino Selects BIS²’s Multi-Award Winning Software
BIS²’s software installed to provide advanced gaming analytics

San Diego, CA – May 21, 2012 - BIS² announced today that Riviera Black Hawk Casino has chosen to install BIS²’s multi-award winning BI gaming software to take its operational and customer analytics to a new level.

“We are very excited about the BIS² technology and how it helps identify improvements to our gaming operations and provide new insights to better service our patrons. It provides advanced gaming analytics that really drive our slot floor performance. Additionally, the software enables us to recognize patron preferences and enhance their gaming experience,” stated David Farahi, Executive Vice President of Operations for Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc.

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. recently acquired Riviera Black Hawk Casino through its subsidiary Monarch Growth, Inc.

“Incredibly, within a day from beginning this installation we saw the first Super Graphic visualizations of our data,” added Farahi.

“We are very pleased to be representing BIS² in this sale with Riviera Black Hawk Casino”, states Jon Zimmerman, President of Casino Business Strategies, a BIS² partner. “I have been in the gaming industry for many years and I see the BIS² technology as highly innovative and an essential analytics tool for casino operators today,” added Zimmerman.

“Our new super advanced analytics to identify revenue efficiency from game changes and displacement of revenue is being welcomed as a long awaited market need by many casino operators,” said Andrew Cardno, BIS² CTO. “We use our Super Graphics and other special techniques to present data at a user-level and also in a corporate-style war-room environment to communicate what is really going on in the business,” Cardno added.

BIS²’s gameViz industry solution is a Web 2.0 data visualization BI software solution that allows casino operators to directly interrogate their data without the requirement for ETL, and see the results visually using innovative and powerful Super Graphics. gameViz represents the next generation of advanced data visualization software for strategic, operational, and analytical users of gaming data. It enables users to understand and take action on their gaming data in a new way. Using Super Graphics to view complex data analysis gives the users a better way to understand their data and quickly identify patterns and improvement opportunities.

About Riviera Blackhawk Casino

The Riviera Black Hawk Casino opened in 2000 and is located in Black Hawk, Colorado, approximately 40 miles west of Denver. The property is the first casino encountered by visitors arriving from Denver on Highway 119 and features approximately 32,000 square feet of casino space, 750 slot machines, 8 table games, a 250 seat buffet-style restaurant and a parking structure with approximately 500 spaces. Monarch owns a 1.5 acre land parcel contiguous to the Riviera Black Hawk Casino which can be utilized for future expansion.

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc., recently acquired Riviera Black Hawk Casino through its subsidiary Monarch Growth, Inc., and also owns and operates the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, a hotel/casino facility in Reno, Nevada.

About BIS²

BIS²’s gaming industry solution, called gameViz™, enables gaming operators to view and analyze big data to provide the vital insights needed to gain a competitive advantage. With BIS²’s Super Graphics™, gaming operators can rapidly adapt to changes by gaining data insights from both within and outside the enterprise. BIS² is an innovative leader in enterprise-ready, standards-based, visually-centric analytics with solutions that reveal the trends and patterns in volumes of operational data so organizations can understand what actions are required now and tomorrow. The BIS² software products have been recognized with multiple awards such as Gaming and Leisure Magazine’s Technology Impact award and their Product Interoperability award and Casino Enterprise Managements Top 10 Slot Floor products to name a few. Other industry specific solutions available from BIS² include airViz™ (for airlines), clubViz™ (for premiere clubs), resortsViz™ (for resort operators), telViz™ (for telcos), insuranceViz™ (for insurance companies), retailViz™ (for retailers), entertainmentViz™ (for entertainment companies), makeViz™ (for manufacturing companies) and moneyViz™ (for financial institutions). For more information, please call 1-877-592-2472 or visit www.bis2.net.

Press Release: BIS² Expands Latin America Operations with New Strategic Partnership

San Diego, CA – May 23, 2012 - BIS² announced today a further expansion of its distribution network into Latin America by appointing the Seidlitz Group and its companies based in Ecuador and Chile.

“We are pleased to be representing the BIS² technology in Latin America. We have a strong connection with the region and see great opportunities to work with local casino operators to bring this proven world-leading gaming analytics technology to them,” said Alex Seidlitz, CEO of the Group companies. “The feedback we are getting from casino operators is that they are very impressed with the BIS² technology and that it can really help them to understand to a whole new level, slot machine performance and customer preferences,” added Seidlitz.

“We are pleased to have Seidlitz join the BIS² distributor network offering the BIS² multi-award winning technology to casino operators. Latin America represents an increasingly substantial and growing share of the world gaming market,” states Mukesh Gordhan, BIS² CEO. “The region is strategically important and we see this partnership as another step in establishing a strong presence in Latin America,” added Gordhan.

“The challenge of being able to better understand data is a problem that exists for all casino operators all over the world. The power of visual query is something we do exceptionally well at BIS² and I am pleased that we can offer our technology to casino operators in Latin America,” said Andrew Cardno, BIS² CTO. “I have been very impressed with the team at Seidlitz and their ability to represent us,” Cardno added.

BIS²’s gameViz industry solution allows casino operators to directly interrogate their data without the requirement for ETL, and see the results visually using innovative and powerful Super Graphics™. gameViz represents the next generation of advanced data visualization software for strategic, operational, and analytical users of gaming data. It enables users to understand and take action on their gaming data in a new way. Using Super Graphics to view complex data analysis gives the users a better way to understand their data and quickly identify patterns and improvement opportunities.

About the Seidlitz Group

Since its beginnings in 1940, the focus of the Seidlitz Group has been to provide the best service in their markets, constantly looking for the best solutions for different industries in the areas where they operate. With Seidlitz Software the Group ventured into new segments, developing firstly the document flow software for internal use and then marketing it to a wide array of users, from small lawyer practices up to multinational oil companies. The Group is currently the biggest business partner of IBM in Ecuador for customized workflow applications based on Lotus Notes. The Group also offers services in other areas that are native markets for the other divisions at Seidlitz. With the BIS² partnership, the Seidlitz Group offers the best solution for its customers, and potential customers in the region, starting with the gaming industry, and not excluding retail, resorts, banking and all other businesses that can benefit from the powerful, advanced data visualization software developed by BIS². For more information please visit: www.seidlitz.com.

About BIS²

BIS²’s gaming industry solution, called gameViz™, enables gaming operators to view and analyze big data to provide the vital insights needed to gain a competitive advantage. With BIS²’s Super Graphics™, gaming operators can rapidly adapt to changes by gaining data insights from both within and outside the enterprise. BIS² is an innovative leader in enterprise-ready, standards-based, visually-centric analytics with solutions that reveal the trends and patterns in volumes of operational data so organizations can understand what actions are required now and tomorrow. The BIS² software products have been recognized with multiple awards such as Gaming and Leisure Magazine’s Technology Impact award and their Product Interoperability award and Casino Enterprise Managements Top 10 Slot Floor products to name a few. Other industry specific solutions available from BIS² include airViz™ (for airlines), clubViz™ (for premiere clubs), resortsViz™ (for resort operators), telViz™ (for telcos), insuranceViz™ (for insurance companies), retailViz™ (for retailers), entertainmentViz™ (for entertainment companies), makeViz™ (for manufacturing companies) and moneyViz™ (for financial institutions). For more information, please call 1-877-592-2472 or visit www.bis2.net.

Article Link: 5 things CIOs should know about big data 

Article via Info World

These five tips set the foundation for any CIO's big data plans, By Joab Jackson

Article Link: Why does Data Visualization Matter?

Article by Troy Larson at Mindjet

A great reminder of how valuable data visualization can be when done correctly, and a pertinent reminder to remember your customers!

BBC Mapping Visualizations

Some beautiful visualizations of activity in Britain. Here you can see mobile usage in the first clip and air traffic in the second clip. These videos are from 2009. Still relevant today!

"Most critical  is data" Andrew Marr, Narrator



Find more here

BIS² Super Graphics Showcased this Week at 

Sabre® AirVision™ Global Conference

Ft Lauderdale, Florida – May 17th, 2012 - BIS² announced today that it has been attending the Sabre AirVision Global Conference this week in Ft Lauderdale, Florida and showcasing with Sabre Airline Solutions, the integration of its multi-award winning Super Graphics with the Sabre® AirVision™ Profit Manager product.

"From the outset we have been very impressed with the unique BIS² Super Graphics which display huge amounts of data in a powerful and easy-to-understand format. The integration of the BIS² Super Graphics with one of our flagship products, Sabre® AirVision™ Profit Manager, is a special step in the development of our technology partnership with BIS²,” states Renzo Vaccari, Director Solutions Management of Sabre Airline Solutions. “We are delighted with the feedback we are getting on this new integrated product and enjoyed showcasing it this week at our AirVision Global Conference," Vaccari adds.

"Profit Manager is a powerful decision support tool for evaluating network profitability and allows airlines to perform various types of “what if” analysis about scheduling and routes. We have applied the BIS² Super Graphics to the output of Profit Manager enabling consumers of the data to truly understand traffic, demand, and spill across all markets globally”, says Andrew Cardno, BIS² CTO. “Using multiple Super Graphics side-by-side shows this data in extreme detail enabling insight and action. Many of our customers are now using the BIS² Super Graphics to build Strategic Business Intelligence “War Rooms” and using these War Rooms for interactive decision support and to drive their businesses,” Cardno added.

About Sabre® AirVision™ Profit Manager

Accurate, robust forecasting algorithms and “what if” analysis capabilities enable airlines all over the world to develop profitable schedules and identify revenue opportunities in the competitive airline industry. Sabre® AirVision™ Profit Manager, is an integrated solution that allows airlines to perform various types of “what-if” scenarios ranging from a new market analysis and codeshare/alliance modeling to measure the impact of competitor changes on an airline’s network.

About BIS²’s airViz™ Solution

airViz™ is an industry-specific, hyper-advanced, data visualization software solution from BIS² that allows airlines with massive data collections to directly query their data and see the results visually using innovative and powerful Super Graphics. airViz™ represents the next generation of data visualization software for strategic, operational, and analytical users of business intelligence data from the airline industry. Using Super Graphics to view large data sets gives the user a better way to understand and interpret complex information and quickly identify patterns that reveal improvement opportunities.

About Sabre

Sabre Airline Solutions, part of the Sabre Holdings family, is the world's leading provider of high performance solutions for airlines and airports, helping companies generate more revenue by optimizing performance in 14 key areas of airline operations. More than 300 leading air carriers and over 100 airports use their solutions to better market their schedules, sell their products, serve their customers and operate efficiently. Sabre also distribute software solutions and consulting services to customers spanning six continents, powering the progress of a key segment of the world’s largest industry — travel and tourism. For more information please visit www.sabreairlinesolutions.com.

About BIS²

BIS²’s airline industry solution, called airViz™, enables airline operators to view and analyze data sets that provide the vital insights needed to gain a competitive advantage. With BIS²’s Super Graphics™, airline operators can rapidly adapt to revenue changes by gaining valuable insights into data from both within and outside the organization. BIS² is an innovative leader in enterprise-ready, standards-based, visually-centric analytics with solutions that reveal the trends and patterns in volumes of operational data so organizations can understand what actions are required now and tomorrow. BIS² has been recognized with multiple awards such as Gaming and Leisure Magazine’s Technology Impact award, their Product Interoperability award and Casino Enterprise Managements Top 10 Slot Floor products to name a few. Other industry specific solutions available from BIS² include clubViz™ (for premiere clubs), gameViz™ (for casino gaming operators), telViz™ (for telcos), insuranceViz™ (for insurance companies), retailViz™ (for retailers), entertainmentViz™ (for entertainment companies), makeViz™ (for manufacturing companies) and moneyViz™ (for financial institutions). For more information, please call 1-877-592-2472 or visit www.bis2.net.

 

Big Data Predictions for 2012

There are some great articles around predicting the year in big data. Here is a Wordle analysis of some of these articles.

..."Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text..." Making it a quick and interesting way to visualize popular phrases in text—highly appropriate for the sector!

As you could have predicted, big data features most prominently, with enterprise, solutions and Hadoop also showing up in bold. A great resource for the buzz words in 2012 big data!

Article Link: Forrester: Customer Experience Management and 13 Emerging CRM Trends

Article via CMS Wire

According to recent research from Forrester, despite widespread adoption and deployment, many IT and business people say they are struggling with CRM strategy and technologies.

"...[Struggling] not just with how to define the correct CRM strategies for their enterprise, but also struggling to re-engineer customer-facing processes where those processes are not working, and struggling to acquire the appropriate technologies to deal with the problems...."

In this article—which links to the report itself—Forrester researcher William Band discusses several facets of CRM strategy that are necessary: "...Success, he says, requires maintaining a focus on four critical elements simultaneously: strategy, process, technology and people..."

Read more here.

CMS Wire on Twitter: @cmswire
BIS2 on Twitter: @BIS2Media

How do you make knowledge powerful?
This excellent Motion Graphic describes the value of data visualization.




Agency: Column Five Media
Creative Director: Ross Crooks
Project Manager: Nick Miede
Motion Designer: Chase Ogden
Graphic Designer: Andrew Effendy
Voice Over: Erin Spencer

BIS2 lands in the Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products Awards 2011

We're excited to be named in Casino Journal's Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products Awards 2011! Read on for more details.

BIS² Wins Twice in Casino Journal Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products Awards 2011

San Diego, CA – May 1st, 2012 - BIS², the market leader in providing visually-centric BI tools to the gaming industry, announced today that Casino Journal has recognized two of its latest product innovations in the Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products Awards 2011. The two products recognized were BIS²’s new tableVizPLUS product and BIS²’s Customer Preference Calculators.

“We are really excited to be included in Casino Journal’s Top 20 Awards. It exemplifies BIS²’s commitment to delivering real innovation and value-added solutions to our customers,” said Mukesh Gordhan, BIS² CEO. “Our fast growing list of customers, both domestically and around the world, is also a true testament to the uniqueness and value of our technology,” added Gordhan.

“We have been working very closely with our customers and identified some real needs in the market that were not being met. BIS²’s unique ability to combine gaming knowledge, with software engineering, advanced mathematics and data visualization, has enabled us to deliver some very impressive solutions,” states Andrew Cardno, BIS² CTO. “Customer feedback on our new innovations has been fantastic and I am pleased that both our tableVizPLUS product and our Customer Preference Calculators have been recognized in the Casino Journal awards,” Cardno adds.

“BIS²’s Customer Preference Calculators have really changed the way we look at customer play and the gaming floor. We can now get rid of all the noise in our data and really understand preferences and see what is happening on the floor,” said Mike Paulos, Business Analyst, Marketing, Cannery Casino Resorts. “The results have been tremendous and it is changing the way we are approaching our analytics,” added Paulos.

“BIS²’s new tableVizPLUS product is getting a fantastic response from casino operators, particularly from those with stronger table games operations,” said Sylvain Tassé, BIS² partner, BI2U founder and director. “The product is bringing table game analytics on par with those of slot analytics,” added Tassé.

BIS²’s gameViz™ industry solution for the gaming industry, allows casino operators to directly interrogate their data and see the results visually using innovative and powerful Super Graphics™. gameViz represents the next generation of advanced data visualization software for strategic, operational, and analytical users of gaming data. It enables users to understand and take action on their gaming data in a new way. Using Super Graphics to view complex data analysis gives the users a better way to understand their data and quickly identify patterns and improvement opportunities.

A panel of expert judges evaluated more than 60 entries from industry vendors showcasing their newest, most innovative products and services to decide Casino Journal's Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products Awards for 2011. Judging this year's contest were Greg Solomon, Chief Executive Officer, MotorCity Casino; Donne Grable, Vice President, Gaming Operations, VCAT LLC; and Warren Davidson, Slot Director, Coushatta Resort.

About Casino Journal

Casino Journal is an independent global information source serving every gaming sector. Providing solutions to real world challenges facing executives and operators in today's economic climate, their readers learn about industry trends, new technologies and how to meet changing customer expectations with clarity and concrete solutions. Bringing timely and authoritative coverage via Casino Journal’s monthly magazine (now available in either print or digital) and their three e-Newsletters: Games & Technology Report, Gaming Headlines, and Products of the Week. Casino Journal and BNP Media's Gaming Group combines print, the Internet, e-Newsletters, custom publishing, live conferences and much more to provide superior information to help the gaming industry thrive and businesses to succeed.  

About BIS²

BIS²’s gaming industry solution, called gameViz, enables casino operators to view and analyze data sets that provide the vital insights needed to gain a competitive advantage. With BIS²’s Super Graphics™, casinos can rapidly drive and adapt to revenue changes by understanding data from both within and outside the enterprise. BIS² is an innovative leader in enterprise-ready, standards-based, visually-centric analytics with solutions that reveal the trends and patterns in volumes of operational data so organizations can understand what actions are required now and tomorrow. BIS² have previously been recognized with multiple awards such as Gaming and Leisure Magazine’s Technology Impact award, their Product Interoperability award and Casino Enterprise Managements Top 10 Slot Floor products to name a few. Other industry specific solutions available from BIS² include airViz™ (for airlines), clubViz™ (for premiere clubs), resortViz™ (for resort operators), telViz™ (for telcos), insuranceViz™ (for insurance companies), retailViz™ (for retailers), entertainmentViz™ (for entertainment companies), makeViz™ (for manufacturing companies) and moneyViz™ (for financial institutions). For more information, please call 1-877-592-2472 or visit www.bis2.net.

 Welcome to the Anthropocene


"A 3-minute journey through the last 250 years of our history, from the start of the Industrial Revolution to the Rio+20 Summit. The film charts the growth of humanity into a global force on an equivalent scale to major geological processes.

The film was commissioned by the Planet Under Pressure conference, London 26-29 March, a major international conference focusing on solutions.

planetunderpressure2012.net

The film is part of the world's first educational webportal on the Anthropocene, commissioned by the Planet Under Pressure conference, and developed and sponsored by
anthropocene.info..."

Article Link: Big Data's Big Problem: Little Talent 

We always love hearing what Hilary Mason has to say – as chief data scientist at bit.ly she always has a pragmatic and interesting approach to the big topic of big data! 

"...Hilary Mason [...] says a data scientist must have three key skills. "They can take a data set and model it mathematically and understand the math required to build those models; they can actually do that, which means they have the engineering skills…and finally they are someone who can find insights and tell stories from their data. That means asking the right questions, and that is usually the hardest piece."..."

Despite the shortage of these multi-talented data experts (as Hilary points out in the short interview video embedded in this article) there are many tools becoming available and specialized education programs which are specifically engineered to help businesses and individuals deal with the deluge of data.

Read more here.

Beautiful visualization by Evan Westvang 



"300.000 Norwegians move house every year. If the pattern made by this process could be compressed into one short animation, what would would it look like? What could you learn about your country from such an animation, if anything?

Deluge is a C++ application designed to answer these questions. The underlying data was generated by cross referencing Norwegian tax records from 2006 and 2007 to find changes in postal codes..."

Article Link: Business Intelligence and Analytics in High School Sports

It's exciting to think that high-schoolers are being exposed to this type of  problem solving – just think of the future data scientists that might get a chance to see things a different way!

"...Amazingly, this high school coach was but one of 475 high school coaches across the country that have paid a New York-based company named Krossover as much as $2,000 a year to take their digital game film and break it down into some of the most advanced metrics that youth basketball has ever seen..." 

Read more here

CBO Budget Infographics

Great to see infographics making important information more accessible and easy to digest.

"...These infographics provide a more detailed look at the material presented in CBO's infographic on the federal budget—released last December—which provided an overview of some key elements of the budget and a visual history of the budget deficit and federal debt over the past 40 years..."

Read and see more here. 

Article link: San Francisco startup makes data science a sport by Marcus Wohlsen

"An orange used car is less likely to be a lemon" is just one of the facts revealed through the data exploration of competitive number-crunchers SirGuessalot and PlanetThanet.

Read more on some more of the interesting practical applications of data mining and how data scientists deserve the salaries of athletes here.

Article by Marucs Wohlsen on Bloomberg Businessweek

UK National Heatmap

 "...The data is based on models that drill down to an individual address level, yet did not acquire actual energy bills or smart metering. The map is meant for developers and planners to figure out which areas would be suitable for the development of local heat networks, or to support future climate change strategies..." (From Andrew Vande Moer at infosthetics)

This screen shot shows commercial heat density with regional boundaries.

Have a look at the visualization for yourself and try the different layers describing heat density in different sectors. The view of the entire country shows an expected pattern–highly concentrated areas over the bigger cities–but it is interesting to zoom in to a local level for more detail.

Created by the Centre for Sustainable Energy.

Linked from the Guardian Data Blog and infosthetics.

Kinetic Sculpture BMW Museum Munich

  Read and see more here

Future Times by Christopher Leary and Casey Alt

A beautiful data sculpture. Read more here.

Visualizing the Global Digital Divide By
Mapping Internet And Population
Beautiful visualizations by Gregor Aisch.

"...With this map I tried to visualize the global digital divide. It shows more than 80,000 populated places in blue and about 350,000 locations of IP addresses in red..." [image shown is only a small frame of the full visualization, see the full version here]

See more great work on his blog vis4.

Designing Data Visualizations with Noah Iliinsky

In this talk, Noah lays out a great framework for how to determine what question you are actually trying to answer, what data you need (and what you don't) in order to answer that question, and the steps to take through effective visualization to convey the bottom line.

Need help? Talk to bis²!

Stefanie Posavec: finding data everyday



Stefanie Posavec takes a humanistic approach to data – discovering and depicting the "hidden data" in everyday things. Posavec's illustrations depict the patterns behind everyday objects, helping to portray the familiar in a new light.

See more of her beautiful work here.

Article link: "NASA Creates Insanely High-Res Map Of America’s Trees, And Offers A Lesson In Information Design" from Tim Maly at Co.Design

"According to Robert Simmon, art director of NASA’s Earth Observatory, the best science communication goes in layers. You start out with something striking and relatable, and then you invite your audience to go deeper, revealing more and more with each new layer..."

Head to Co.Design to read more of this fantastic article here.

Article Link: Data analytics driving medical breakthroughs by Esther Shein

Some very exciting times in data analytics – helping the health care system process and interpret data in order to discover break-through patterns in patient care and recovery.

"Thanks to a new technology partnership, the hospital is working to use analytics to predict more accurately than ever before which premature babies are at most risk for disease and infection."

"...The technology is giving UOIT the ability to make sense of the data and analyze it in ways that include, they hope, discovering the onset of sepsis and various other conditions before these problems occur, says Dr. Carolyn McGregor, the Canada Research Chair in Health Informatics at UOIT..."

Read more here.

Article Link: Why data visualization matters
by Julie Steele on Radar

"...The best data visualizations are ones that expose something new about the underlying patterns and relationships contained within the data. Understanding those relationships — and being able to observe them — is key to good decision making..."
Read More

Micro Fashion Network: Color
Burak Arikan, Ben Dalton

Micro Fashion Network is a stunning project by Burak Arikan and Ben Dalton.

"A fixed camera and custom software process and store the dominant colors of moving people in Cambridge's busy neighborhoods. Similar colors connected to each other form a large color network over time. As the network grows, the new vertices are connected to existing similar colors; because of this preferential attachment model, we see the power law distribution and the highly connected dense color hubs in the resulting images. In the resulting demonstration, three different artistic representations are put side by side: captured human figures, color information as abstract boxes, and the complex network of colors."

See and read more here.

Twingly Screensaver:
Visualizing The Blogoshpere

"Twingly screensaver is visualizing the global blog activity in real time. Forget RSS readers where you see only what you're interested in. With Twingly screensaver you get a 24/7 stream of all (viewer discretion advised) blog activity, straight to your screen. To use the screensaver you need a PC with Windows and a graphics card supporting OpenGL..."

This is great! We wish our computers would get a chance to rest so we could actually get to see it!

The Dynamic Dimension of Geneva:
Ville Vivante
"...The mobile phone has rapidly become a very essential tool, that we carry with us all the time, everywhere we go. It has become the focus of our communication and information in a hyper-connected world, which tolerates less and less that we disconnect or just don't have immediate access to information. Based on this conclusion the City of Geneva decided to take the challenge to visualize these digital traces created by our mobile phones. The objective of this installation is to make this data visible and allow you to explore these streams of connected people around the city, in their everyday life..."

More

What is BIS² gameVis?



gameViz is a powerful, easy-to-use, gaming industry data visualization solution that allows gaming operators to directly query their data, and enable them to see what they need to do.

Visualize your data! 

Diagram of the Causes of Mortality by Florence Nightingale

Professor Friendly looks at Florence Nightingale's Coxcomb diagrams:

"Florence Nightingale is remembered as the mother of modern nursing. But few realize that her place in history is at least partly linked to her use, following William Farr, Playfair and others, of graphical methods to convey complex statistical information dramatically to a broad audience..."

"...This figure makes it abundantly clear that far more deaths were attributable to non-battle causes ("preventable causes") than to battle-related causes..."

See the beautiful remake here and read more here.