Real-Time Analytics: Techniques to Analyze and Visualize Streaming Data

Chapter 1Introduction to Streaming Data

It seems like the world moves at a faster pace every day. People and places become more connected, and people and organizations try to react at an ever-increasing pace. Reaching the limits of a human's ability to respond, tools are built to process the vast amounts of data available to decision makers, analyze it, present it, and, in some cases, respond to events as they happen.

The collection and processing of this data has a number of application areas, some of which are discussed in the next section. These applications, which are discussed later in this chapter, require an infrastructure and method of analysis specific to streaming data. Fortunately, like batch processing before it, the state of the art of streaming infrastructure is focused on using commodity hardware and software to build its systems rather than the specialized systems required for real-time analysis prior to the Internet era. This, combined with flexible cloud-based environment, puts the implementation of a real-time system within the reach of nearly any organization. These commodity systems allow organizations to analyze their data in real time and scale that infrastructure to meet future needs as the organization grows and changes over time.

The goal of this book is to allow a fairly broad range of potential users and implementers in an organization to gain comfort with the complete stack of applications. When real-time projects reach a certain point, they should ...