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Data Science and Analytics |
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ISchool 296A Spring 2012 |
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Why Big Data is a Big Deal Anand Rajaraman SVP, Global eCommerce, WalmartLabs Abstract We've all heard the Big Data hype. It's natural to wonder why this is such a big deal all of a sudden. Haven't data sizes been growing all these years? So all we have is more data, right? Why should we get all excited about more of the same?
In this talk, we explore why Big Data is such a big deal, and why it necessitates new techniques and new ways of looking at problems. We use examples from the world of retailing, which is undergoing a sea change driven by social media
and smartphone adoption. We describe the integral role Big Data plays in this transformation.
Bio Anand Rajaraman is Senior Vice President at Walmart Global eCommerce, where he heads up the newly created @WalmartLabs, which focuses on the intersection of social, mobile, and retail. Anand joined Walmart when when Walmart acquired
Kosmix, the startup he co-founded. He also teaches a class on web-scale data mining at the Computer Science Department at Stanford University.
In his VC avatar, Anand is a Founding Partner of Cambrian Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. Anand's investments include Facebook (one of the earliest angel investors, in 2005); Kaltix (acquired by Google); Transformic (acquired by Google); Neoteris (acquired by Juniper); India Infoline (IPO 2005, INDIAINFO); Facebook; Efficient Frontier; Aster Data (acquired by Teradata); Mobissimo; The Find; and Chaupaati. His Board Member roles include Aster Data, Chaupaati, Transformic, Kosmix, and Gradiance.
Prior to founding Cambrian in 2000, Anand was Director of Technology at Amazon.com, where he was responsible for technology strategy. Anand helped launch the transformation of Amazon.com from a retailer into a retail platform, enabling
third-party retailers to sell on Amazon.com's website. Third-party transactions now account for over 25% of all US transactions, and represent Amazon's fastest-growing and most profitable business segment.
Anand came to Amazon.com in 1998 through the $250 Million acquisition of Junglee, an Internet pioneer that he co-founded in 1996. As Chief Technology Officer, Anand played a key role in developing Junglee's award-winning Virtual Database technology.
He obtained his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, where he won the President of India Gold Medal for graduating at the top of his class, and his MS and PhD in Computer
Science from Stanford University. Anand has been featured in articles in Business Week, the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and other leading national publications.
Anand can be contacted at: datawocky AT gmail DOT com. |
