Wikibon chief analyst made an appearance on this morning’s NewsDesk to discuss the two hottest events in IT this week: IBM Information OnDemand, and Strata Conference + Hadoop World. The latter kicked off today (Vellante’s full video below).

TheCube is broadcasting live from both events, and while it’s too early to report anything from Strata, Vellante already has a number of observations to share from IOD.

Information OnDemand has traditionally been IBM’s big software expo, but this year Vellante got the impression that they’ve rebranded it around a new theme: big data.  The analyst expanded a bit on the company and how it’s positioned in the industry today relatively to Oracle, which is also upping its analytics play.

Vellante notes that in a lot of ways, the two companies have switched roles in the past few years. IBM used to monopolize the enterprise with its mainframe, but nowadays it’s taking a more agile approach that relies in great part on the ecosystem; Oracle, on the other hand, is doing the exact opposite with its engineered systems and database line-up.

Vellante goes back to Big Blue and its analytics strategy. A lot can be credited to its aggressive acquisitions – IBM purchased Cognos and Vivisimo in recent months, and many more in the past few years. IBM integrated the assets from these deals with its own R&D muscle to create the solid portfolio it has today.

Towards the end of the interview Vellante also goes over his expectations for Strata Conference + Hadoop World. He says that, while the focus is primarily on the technical side of big data, the business aspect is starting to gain more attention, which means there’s a very broad range of exhibitions to look forward to. Case studies and real-world examples from financial institutions, healthcare providers and government, along with an emphasis on the underlying data science are among the main themes of the gathering.