Google delves into big data analytics

   Google is starting to sell some of its analytics capabilities as an online service to compete with engines like Amazon Web Services for enterprise cloud computing.
   The services these two offer lag behind many dedicated logistics service providers and trade management systems, but they may appeal to smaller companies that can’t necessarily afford the higher-end software.
   In specific, Google is selling access to what it calls BigQuery, which is the tool it uses to index the Internet. The platform can scan terabytes of information in seconds and return responses about as fast. The service will first be offered to corporate customers.
   Google gave out two benchmarks when announcing the service, saying a five-terabytes data query could be returned in 15 seconds and the system is, on average, 10-times faster than most existing corporate systems.
   The crux behind Google’s offering isn’t analytics, it’s storage space. All the information BigQuery covers must be stored in the cloud on Google’s system. This costs about 12 cents per gigabyte. Prices scale to an extent, but systems using more than two terabytes have to negotiate prices with Google.
   As their pricing structures have started to equalize, the next battleground for Google and Amazon will be ease of use. Amazon has already begun reworking its toolset so it’s easier to use, but has yet to make these changes publically available. – Geoff Whiting