Telecom and wireless analytics has been the subject these days at ParStream, we’re gearing up for a great showing at CTIA next week- we have a speaking slot and a fantastic demo (or two) in the making. ParStream was selected as one of 23 finalists, from among 100+ applicants to be part of the Telecom Council’s “Innovation Showcase,” a special zone at CTIA this year. Our selection was a result of our submitting a topic for a session, around Distributed Analytics at Base Stations.

Operators usually transport humungous amounts of data to a central location periodically. Our stance is that this is detrimental- Transferring telecom big data from multiple sources into a centralized database for analytics translates into huge costs and high network load. The more significant danger is that only limited categories of static data are transferred and used. This batch mode of data analysis has the direct impact of losing out on immediacy of contact with the subscribers and partnering vendors. What is ironic is that even while there is talk of synthesizing OSS/BSS systems in preparation for LTE/ 4G services, at a basic level, Big Data is still siloed.

At our pod at CTIA (3729F), we’ll be showing how operators can benefit from querying and analyzing big data at the source, at the base-station level. Not only can they serve subscribers better and increase stickiness, they can also serve their business partners- such as retailers in revenue-sharing-mobile-wallet scenarios- better. Visit us at the show or email us for a meeting at events@parstream.com.

Also read this fantastic report on Telecom Analytics by RCR Wireless where ParStream CEO, Michael Hummel has been quoted.

ParStream has been recognized as one of Red Herring’s Top 100 European technology companies. The Top 100 winners of the Red Herring Europe award were announced at the Red Herring Europe Forum in Amsterdam on April 10, 2013.

After careful evaluation by Red Herring editors who were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo! would have huge impacts on everyday life, ParStream was selected out of a pool of hundreds of entrants from across Europe as one of the most innovative companies that is on the trajectory for exponential innovation and growth.

ParStream was evaluated on 20 main quantitative and qualitative criteria including market disruption potential, proof of concept, technology innovation, social value, quality of management, execution of strategy and integration into the industry.

“Selecting startups that show the most potential for disruption and growth is never easy,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “We looked at hundreds and hundreds of candidates from all across the continent, and after much thought and debate, narrowed the list down to the Top 100 winners. Each year, the competition gets tougher but we believe that ParStream demonstrates the vision, drive, and innovation that define a Red Herring winner.

We are very proud of this recognition, each one is very special.

I recently met with Karl Keirstead from BMO Capital Markets. It was refreshing to hear from him about how it’s about fast and not just Big data.

Analytics and speed will define Big Data use cases; that was the reason we created ParStream technology, because every othertechnology out there was too pre-occupied with size rather than speed, transactions rather than analytics, and everybody assumed that scale would always cannibalize speed.

In his report, It’s About Fast (not just Big) Data, Karl makes the point that many vendors have tried tweaking hardware to enhance speed, but now the trend is towards re-architecting software, an excerpt is on our media coverage page. I thank him for the great conversation and unique perspectives. Great job on the report, Karl.

As we all know, data, big or small is unstoppable. As Eric Schmidt has so eloquently put, today we generate as much data in two days as was generated from the start of civilization to the year 2003. Another estimate describes the available data volume as growing tenfold every five years. Working with big data is of rising importance for companies, and ever more interesting and intelligent approaches are in demand.

Data is the most important resource for industry and science in the 21st Century. Instruments to handle big data and the analysis of it, is one of the major IT tasks in the near future. ParStream is committed to revolutionize the market for databases and help customers to transform their data into knowledge.

I’m looking forward to explore more perspectives on where the big data hits the real world at CeBIT this year- ParStream will be at the iNNOVO Cloud GmbH stand in Hall 11 Stand F12- and I am excited to be part of these sessions-

March 6: Speaking session

http://www.cebit.de/event/the-world-of-sharing-big-data.-the-first-steps/WOR/52122#program

http://www.cebit.de/en/about-the-trade-show/programme/cebit-global-conferences/cgc-log-book/big-data?backtoresults=true

March 7: Panel Discussion

http://www.cebit.de/event/mehr-daten-mehrwert-fuer-nutzer/PAN/52344

March 8: Webciety Conference

http://www.cebit.de/event/trends-for-big-data-in-the-enterprise/PAN/51971

http://www.cebit.de/veranstaltung/trends-entwicklungen-zum-big-data/PAN/51971#program

ParStream was part of the German delegation that accompanied Dr. Philipp Rösler, Minister of Economy and Trade recently. The delegation was here to connect with the German students and companies in the valley-answer questions, provide support, and learn from their experiences and successes. The “in-flight” photo shows CTO, Jörg Bienert, with the minister. The GSVA website has more information about the trip.

I recently participated in a lively panel discussion at the Global Big Data Conference in Santa Clara, CA. The topic was, What’s the next big thing for data, both big and small? Participants included professionals from Walmart Labs, Badgeville, GoodData, and 0xData; moderated by author Shashank Tiwari, founder of Treasury of Ideas.

In the first 10 minutes, even as the panelists were going through the introductions and sharing our perspectives on the market, infrastructure, algorithms and simplification emerged as being the key rallying points for big data innovation and momentum in the coming months. There was discussion around how algorithms must be built to automate decision making; how applications and analytics can no longer be distinct from each other.

A very interesting point about not forgetting humans was raised; how at the end, it is humans who consume the data and therefore, instead of achieving heights of mathematical genius, one must ask the question ”What is the problem that needs solving?” An obvious answer to this question is “make big data analytics simpler”- the market has offered visualization as a means to simplify and empower analytics. That is at one end of the spectrum. At the other end, and what I don’t hear people talking about as much, is infrastructure; that one way to make big data analytics simpler is to reduce infrastructure, to simplify how companies store their data.

Today, most companies believe that moving humungous amounts of data to a central location is the only way to manage big data. I believe, and one of the founding principles of the ParStream technology, is that algorithms must move to the where the data is. This decentralization holds the key to creating big data insights and making it actionable. When people ask me “Do I need a gigabit Ethernet to run your platform,” I am proud to say that it doesn’t.

Bottomline, distributed processing is the way to go. Don’t move your big data. Instead, run your algorithms from where your data is located.

In November 2012, ParStream was a speaker at the National IT Summit in Essen, Germany. The theme then was Digitize, Connect, Found, or Start. Well, a start has been certainly been made, and federal minister Dr. Philipp Rösler’s newest initiative “Young Digital Economy” will provide the necessary fuel needed to sustain the momentum.

On January 15^th, it was my honor to accept a position in the Young Digital Economy’s Advisory Board along with 24 other entrepreneurs and experts in various areas of the digital economy. The Board is expected to work closely with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Its mandate is to report back to the Ministry on real issues and inhibiting factors faced by its comprising companies as they continue to grow.

Dr. Philipp Rösler, Minister for Economy and Technology, Germany (on the left), together with Jörg Bienert, member of the new “Young Digital Economy” Advisory Board and CTO, ParStream

ParStream’s experience with a successful round of funding with California based Khosla Ventures (among others), together with our association with the German Silicon Valley Accelerator (another initiative from the Ministry), allows us to bring a unique perspective to the Young Digital Economy or Junge Digitale Wirtschaft.

I applaud and echo Dr. Rösler’s sentiment that the digital economy must be a sector of high growth. ParStream looks forward to working closely with the Ministry and others in the Board to pave a smoother path for upcoming entrepreneurs.

Happy Holidays from the ParStream team!

We have reason to celebrate this year: ParStream won coveted recognition- Gartner Cool Vendor, we claimed our Silicon Valley identity through ParStream Inc., we secured series A funding from Khosla Ventures, among others. From a small person team in Cologne to our 30 employees today, with teams and clients in 3 countries, we have certainly a lot to be thankful for.

The least we could do is spread the good cheer, so this year, instead of investing in the customary holiday cards, we decided to give to an organization that connects faith and action- The Bridge Trust Ltd – which is a Bristol based charity engaged in relief, education, training and development.

Specifically, ParStream’s donation will support healthcare training in the Guatanpuri slums, in Delhi, India. The project helps train health workers who can in turn support the medical needs of the 40,000 people cramped into two square miles of land. The training includes a focus on preventative medicine – the importance of good nutrition, hygiene, and health care in pregnancy, the administration of first aid, and emergency treatments. We’re privileged to be instrumental in enabling others to enjoy many years in a healthy home and neighborhood.

ParStream is poised for a terrific 2013. We look forward to bringing agility to big data, through actionable and real time insights.

Here’s Wishing You Happy Holidays And A Successful 2013!

We had the chance to meet Dr. Merkel, Chancellor of Germany and Dr. Rössler, Minister for Economics & Technology at the National IT Summit. Especially Dr. Rössler was very interested to hear about the start-up scene in Germany and how it compares to the US.

This years slogan was “digitize, network, found” and about 2000 representatives from politics and industry met on November 13 ^th 2012 at the Thyssen-Krupp Quarter in Essen.

I had the chance to speak to the whole audience about the differences between German and US start-up landscape. My two-key points were about sharing ideas and customer relations.

• US start-ups share their ideas much more openly. They constantly search for other start-ups to partner with, they attract talent by sharing and openly discussing ideas. US start-ups believe that the best protection for their IP is very fast going to market. US companies are open to meet with start-ups and if there is a match try out their products and services. They believe they can learn from start-ups and maybe even build a new capability that helps them differentiate their business from competition.
• German start-ups believe in protecting their ideas by keeping them confidential, protecting them in patents, building a complete product and then opening it up to the public. This approach leads to much slower going-to-market and bares higher risks. German companies, especially in established industries, are hard to get in contact with. Often the “purchasing department” or the “portfolio management” stop these companies from working even with well established start-ups. So they miss out on new ideas and innovation.

How the industry – and the government – perceives start-ups is very different between the US and Germany. In the US start-ups are seen as an opportunity, in Germany as a risk.

For more details, please checkout this video – my speech starts at 18:40 min.

Dr. Rössler invited us to support his start-up initiative. We are proud to be chosen to support his initiative and have already provided our recommendations. Dr. Rössler plans to present the findings and recommendations to the parliament and make them public end of January. We will keep you updated.