The world is awash in data, exabytes and petabytes of it, but organizing big data's 3 V's—velocity, volume and variety—is just the first step in the revolution sweeping the markets and attracting the attention of Silicon Valley venture capitalists. There is a fourth V, perhaps the most important: value.
If the first big data investment boom has been defined by companies taking advantage of the revolution in storage capacity and processing power, the new wave is going to answer this question: How do companies at the leading edge of software development make use of what's already stored in massive data centers to create next-level business analytics?
"How do you get the last mile?" said Ping Li, partner at Accel Partners, which has just launched its second $100 million big data venture fund in two years.
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