Global media firm Advance Publications, Inc, which owns the Condé Nast publishing group and the cable company Bright House Networks LLC, among others, has raised a few eyebrows by delving into Big Data analytics with the acquisition of New York-based 1010data Inc. in a deal valued at $500 million.

It’s an odd move for Advance, which until now has kept its line of business strictly in the media realm. Advance’s best known business is Conde Nast, which publishes the New Yorker, Vogue and Wired as well as local newspapers, stations and Web sites. As for 1010data, it offers what it calls a data access and analytics platform, that comes with next-generation QuickApps that allows users with little programming skills to create apps atop of various data sources. Using 1010data’s software, it’s possible to build management dashboards, analytic applications and form-based analyses that can churn out insights in an easily understandable format.

1010data is a cloud-based platform that aims to deal with the problem of unreliable data, or data that isn’t scalable. And now, it’s about to be turbo-charged with far greater resources than its had up until now.

Advance said in a press statement that it’s planning to infuse 1010data with capital so it can expand its operations and capture a greater share of the Big Data analytics market. Neither customers or employees will face any disruption, as the plan is to just let 1010data grow as fast as possible, explained Sandy Steier, the firm’s co-founder and CEO.

“Advance is the perfect partner to help us maximize our growth potential as they fully recognize how revolutionary and impactful our technology can be,” said Steier. “We are very excited about being able to leverage Advance’s significant resources to deliver an even better solution for our customers.”

As to why Advance would be interested in owning such a company, the most obvious benefit is it’ll gain an immediate new revenue stream. But the deal also seems to highlight the role Big Data can play in the media. Advance said in a statement that it thinks Big Data will eventually become central to all businesses, and one potential use case is to use 1010data’s tools to better target advertising in its media network.

There’s also the small fact that the global market for Big Data analytics will reach $125 billion in 2015, according to International Data Corp. 1010data already counts more than 750 customers, including retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, and financial service companies. In total, it maintains more than 21 trillion rows of data for these customers, and clearly seems to think it can handle more.

1010data’s main competitors include Hadoop vendors like Cloudera Inc. and Hortonworks Inc., as well as cloud products from firms like IBM and Microsoft.

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