Exploring the bright side of the next gold rush: Real-time Data Streaming
As big data landscapes change, companies are calibrating their compasses on unidentified dots on the horizon. But how do you secure the hopes of finding new lands of opportunity to not turn into a wild goose hunt? The maze of technological choices can be stifling, especially when the success of your business is on the line. On the notion of “stagnation equals decline”, we aim to thrust forward and make sense out of the latest big data development. In this five part series you will jump down the rabbit hole with us and discover the benefits of Real-time Data Streaming for your business.
In part 1 of our 5-piece series, you took a deep dive with us into the “why” of real-time data streaming. We’ve shown you how Axual harnesses the complexity of Apache Kafka and in what way this propels major fintech players to be at the forefront of customer services.
In this second part we’ll take you on an exploration tour along different industries. We aim to open you up to a whole new universe of applications for real-time data streaming. For a large chunk of enterprises the direct benefit of incorporating real-time data is crystal clear, but there is an even bigger part of the market that is still on the fence about how their companies would benefit. Whichever group you’re in: get ready for lift off.
“We are on the doorstep of humanity’s next gold rush.”
Data — the final frontier
We are on the doorstep of humanity’s next gold rush. Only this time we’re not getting our fingers dirty by digging down. Instead we are taking an aim upwards. About 36.000 km up.
Outside our planet’s atmosphere lies the Geostationary orbit zone. A ring where the majority of our communication and weather satellites are hovering. “Hovering” at a speed of 7km/s there are now close to 2.000 satellites and that rate is increasing. Fast. According to Euroconsult’s “Satellites to be Built & Launched” we are expected to see a threefold increase of satellites going up in the air before 2030. All of them sending and receiving our age’s latest gold dust: data. And those who can make sense of it are the ones pushing the frontiers of technology and society at large.
From all these man-made asteroids about 54% is used for commercial communications and earth observation. Think of data for; telecommunications, financial systems, energy, logistics, aviation, agriculture, maritime, and meteorology. All being put to use for socio-economic advancements on a global scale.
Picture the vast amounts of possible applications for businesses and people. Take a second to envision the phase that our world is about to enter…
Rubbish talk
Before we return to the earthly realm, let’s linger in the sky for a bit. There is a very practical implementation for real-time data streaming if we’re looking at the increase of satellites.
“There are over 19.000 dead objects orbiting earth.”
Through the advancements in aerospace technology mankind is able to build satellites weighing no more than 10kg. An astonishing feat. But aside from the practical benefit — more satellites could be flung into our earth’s orbit more cost efficiently — there is a very clear downside to this. There are over 19.000 ‘dead’ objects orbiting earth creating a permanent membrane of space debris. An enormous amount of space waste that occasionally comes crashing down.
If we are to embrace the advancements, we also have to carry the responsibility for the waste we create. One solution to handle this responsibility more consciously is by using technology built that is both efficient and future proof. We are talking about allowing multiple companies access data entry through a single satellite. These data streams can coincide and still be completely protected from data leaks.
The Axual Platform allows companies to simultaneously give access to multiple producers, applications and consumers of data. All these users have their own channel for access and the platform processes the information in real time.
Practically, as part of the solution to limit space waste, the companies who are rocketing their business into orbit would be able to use the Axual Platform to gather and process data streams for multiple companies in a secure and stable software product. Efficient, yes. Built for the future, you bet.
For enterprises who don’t have the capital for launching their own satellite we’ll take it a notch lower and head back to another source of waste. That which comes from the very soil we walk on.
Feeding the world through data
Space waste is — so far — not a direct hazard to our lives, but food waste on the other hand is depriving millions of people of nutrition. The resources that are keeping us alive are being wasted away. Over 30% of all food produced worldwide is wasted before it even hits the supermarket shelves. Inefficiencies in planting, loss of crops due to pests and weather, uncertainties in consumer demand, these are just a few key reasons. The staggering number here is that global food waste and loss is estimated at €830 billion per year. Cutting post harvest losses by half would create enough food to feed another 1 billion people. That is an enormous positive potential for change.
“Cutting post harvest losses by half would create enough food to feed another 1 billion people.”
Fortunately, big data is on the move in the agriculture industry. The sector is ripe with information. Sensors on crops, water sources, soil conditions, gps on tractors, trucks, field mapping, weather forecasting the list goes on and on. A plethora of applications that are being used to become more — for lack of a better word — sensible with our sources for nutrition.
Precision agriculture is one of those applications. It is a technological approach to farming management where crops and yields are observed, analyzed and measured. Enabling farmers to not only increase production but to also become more efficient. Optimal usage is the key word here.
These applications for big data agriculture provide detailed measurements before produce even hits the supply chain or retail warehouses. Imagine the myriad of communication networks, logistics data and consumer solutions that happen after harvest. The world of today already has the systems in place to connect these post-harvest data sources to pre-harvest analysis.
With Axual, agriculture enterprises and logistics companies can start connecting the dots between production and retail, between supply and demand. When you’re dealing with food you’re dealing with expiration dates, meaning time is not money, time becomes a source for life. The more accurate the data, the more people we can feed. Real-time data streaming is a vital solution for access to food and could swing the course in the battle against food waste.
Free Energy for all
Here’s a radical idea: what if we lived in a world where energy is completely free? We’re not talking about people that build their own windmills, solar panels and water filter systems. As much as these people offer a source for inspiration, for the majority of us, especially in urban areas this is not a viable solution. Our houses, apartment blocks and offices run on an interconnected electrical grid that needs to be paid for.
But we are talking large scale free energy for all. What is needed for that?
First off: highly efficient energy solutions. How do we built these systems? With big data.
“The whole system would then recycle its own (re)source.”
It is no secret that energy utility companies can vastly improve power generation and planning with the help of real-time data. Information on both supply and demand side helps in distributing energy across the grid in the most accurate manner. The by-product for utility companies is cheaper power.
What if we take it one step further and allow consumers to store unused power and enable them to contribute the excess back to the grid when demand is high. The whole system would then recycle its own (re)source.
Back to reality. Since self perpetuating energy has not yet been discovered we have to look for a more present-day solution. The radical idea proposed here might not be solved but it does offer to shine its light on utility efficiency through real-time data.
One of the technological advancements in energy solutions is that of the Virtual Power Plant. VPP is a network of decentralized, medium-scale (often renewable) power generators that are interconnected in a central control room. Much like Axual. And much like Axual it allows for the distributed power units to remain operating independent. The VPP control room recognizes when there is a demand for energy and where the largest supply is located.
A Virtual Power Plant shows us an angle of how energy could be used more efficiently, and it opens a door into how seperate power generating units can be interlinked and thrive with the help of real-time data streaming.
Without communication we’re just islands drifting in a sea of confusion
For large scale telecommunication enterprises, the Axual Platform is a clear cut solution to combining hundreds or thousands of data streams and serving applications and customers on the spot, without downtime. The faster the communication, the more fluid and successful the outcome.
That being said, this last section of the blog will be dedicated to how smaller companies can benefit from Axual. In companies where there is no clear data architecture and DevOps teams are working in a fragmented way — where the means or the willingness for transparency to align data entries across the board are missing.
This is an outreach to the decision makers that aim to ready their businesses for a fast approaching future. The industry examples we’ve shared in this blog are intended to open up new ideas of possible opportunities, opportunities where consensus in all communication is vital to ensure a financially healthy business.
We often meet great minds that feel afloat in their organizations. They share a drive to use the data for the benefit of the bottom line of the company but are held back. We are by no means a consulting firm (although Axual Managed Services provides advice on platform implementation) but we see the increasing importance of data and aim to empower companies that — much in line with launching satellites — want to shoot upwards.
Let’s take aim together.
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If this blog has inspired you to see an opportunity for real-time data streaming for your enterprise, feel free to reach out and together we’ll explore how your business can benefit. Visit www.axual.com or call us on 0031 (0)30 800 9211 to speak with a human being.
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Sourcestech
https://www.adformatie.nl/digital-transformation-tech/mkbers-die-niet-met-big-data-bezig-zijn-missen-kansen
https://www.disruptordaily.com/big-data-analytics-disrupting-energy-industry/
https://www.sia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/SIA-SSIR-2017.pdf
http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number=740557009
https://www.next-kraftwerke.com/vpp/virtual-power-plant
https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/space-weapons/satellite-database
https://www.vpro.nl/programmas/tegenlicht/kijk/afleveringen/2018-2019/Ruimtepuinruimers.html
