Sometimes taking a step back and reviewing the collective is needed. In all honesty, we should probably do it more in all of the areas that affect our business and personal lives…separately of course.  Such a global view reflecting on the Big Data space is exactly what happened when Mark Madsen, President & CEO of Third Nature, stopped by theCube during Strata last month to chat with show hosts John Furrier and Dave Vellante (full video below).

As markets shift and new markets are defined, there is a lot of hectic course correction and innovation. Technology is searching for a solution. It’s a lot more push from the incubants than pull from the buyers. In the case of data, Big Data as an application is sneaking into other parts of an organization. This is causing massive disruption in IT departments and for IT professionals.

Because of the hype of Big Data, it’s also causing a lot of confusion in the market. Madsen consults to companies on both side of the table, and he see’s two keys: data platforms and data processing. Processing, we’re seeing the evolution of a third piece of architecture.

[Part 1] Databases are for storing and retrieving data. > [Part 2] OLTP is recording transactions and storing for the execution of tasks. > [Part 3] The processing of data at low or high latencies, large or small scale, in real-time or in batch — something that offers you new capabilities.

How exactly will the return of data processing as a discipline play out is the million dollar question. What will this new architecture mean? There are some key companies (INTEL, Oracle, IBM, etc.) that are controlling the chessboard right now. Through the acquire and implement model, of which the panel agreed leaves a lot to be desired. “Do you feel as those whales can continue to control the chessboard?” asked Vellante of Madsen.  His response:

There’s some point where you can’t just be solving things by buying product. You have to have rethinking of architectures. And those venders are not, because they have lines of business that are drawn up specifically around things.

Data architecture is another buzz word for 2013. “I think trying to say that an architecture is something a vendor can sell you is a mistake. I don’t think vendors sell architecture — they sell products and products fit into larger architectures.” As Madsen eludes, vendors sell products and products fit into architecture schematically. Where do you draw the boundary lines between platform (architecture) and application (product)?

Madsen said it best, we’ve had several order of magnitudes of tech change, and capabilities and software architectures haven’t changed to match. Think cart before the horse. This has created an unstable market that, much like in 1992, opens the opportunity for great innovation. Multiple theaters playing show times around the clock. One thing is clear though, platform is the only show on the screen.

See Madsen’s full segment below: