The shift from systems of record to systems of engagement is an enormous one for the tech industry, and Rob Thomas, vice president of product development, Big Data and Analytics at IBM, is at the forefront. He joined Jeff Frick of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s Media production team, to talk about some of the ways that Spark is disrupting the data space.

“We view Spark as the analytics operating system,” Thomas said. “So we’ve had things that we’ve wanted to do with data forever, but we were either limited by access to different sources … the speed of how you could access it, or how you could turn it to something actionable. Spark is the answer to that … And we think that message is starting to resonate with clients.”

IBM has joined forces with the open-source movement to turn many of these challenges into solutions. “We have got to be a key part of what’s happening in open source.”

With Linux, Thomas said, “It was about, how can we build a core technology and knowledge around Linux but then use that to help our clients solve problems. We think we’re at a similar juncture, but now on the data side.”

Meeting big industry tech needs

With the experience and history of IBM on their side, Thomas and his team can use open-source solutions to meet big industry needs. “It’s ultimately for the clients we serve,” he explained. “It is about solutions and business impact.”

He gave the example of NICE Systems, Ltd., a company that develops software to make call centers more effective. “The first project we did with them was actually moving them off of a traditional database onto a Hadoop platform with the IBM open platform with BigInsights,” he said. “And you look at what they’re doing, how they automate and make call centers more intelligent, and then you bring something like Spark, it totally changes the game for customer service interactions.”

He added, “Suddenly, they can access all the data, real-time insights … That is how Spark really changes the game. Before, they had a great solution. Now they’ve taken that solution and they’re delivering a huge business impact.”

Photo by SiliconANGLE