“Big
Data” and the Federal Government
by Dan
Gonzalez
This
is the second installment on the high tech trend of “big data analytics” and
its impact on the Northern Virginia data center market. The focus this time will be on the federal
government’s role in creating and deciphering “big data.”
As
noted previously, not all data centers are capable of handling big data users
as there are special requirements for handling the one-megawatt-plus
users. Big data centers require
mega-storage, higher power, and cooling densities. Currently, only Virginia, Texas, and California
have data centers large enough to handle the big data volume.
Significantly for Northern Virginia,
six federal agencies recently teamed up on a $200 million investment to access,
organize, and understand the huge volumes of digital data being generated. The
agencies involved are:
•
National Institutes of Health
•
Department of Energy
•
National Science Foundation
•
Department of Defense
•
DARPA
•
U.S. Geological Survey
This commitment on the part of
these agencies will benefit Northern Virginia in terms of public/private
partnerships and major investments in data center facilities and technology. The driver behind this investment and
cooperative was the President's Council
of Advisors on Science and Technology. Its stated goals for
the initiative are to:
·
“Advance state-of-the-art core
technologies needed to collect, store, preserve, manage, analyze, and share huge
quantities of data;
·
Harness these technologies to
accelerate the pace of discovery in science and engineering, strengthen our
national security, and transform teaching and learning; and
·
Expand the workforce needed to
develop and use Big Data technologies.”
