Kaufman Marcia - Big Data for Dummies: a Wiley Brand

Big Data For Dummies

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013933950

ISBN: 978-1-118-50422-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-64417-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-64396-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-64401-0 (ebk)

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About the Authors

Judith S. Hurwitz is President and CEO of Hurwitz & Associates, a research and consulting firm focused on emerging technology, including cloud computing, big data, analytics, software development, service management, and security and governance. She is a technology strategist, thought leader, and author. A pioneer in anticipating technology innovation and adoption, she has served as a trusted advisor to many industry leaders over the years. Judith has helped these companies make the transition to a new business model focused on the business value of emerging platforms. She was the founder of Hurwitz Group. She has worked in various corporations, including Apollo Computer and John Hancock. She has written extensively about all aspects of distributed software. In 2011 she authored Smart or Lucky? How Technology Leaders Turn Chance into Success (Jossey Bass, 2011). Judith is a co-author on five retail For Dummies titles including Hybrid Cloud For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012), Cloud Computing For Dummies (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010), Service Management For Dummies, and Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies, 2nd Edition (both John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009). She is also a co-author on many custom published For Dummies titles including Platform as a Service For Dummies, CloudBees Special Edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012), Cloud For Dummies, IBM Midsize Company Limited Edition (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011), Private Cloud For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition (2011), and Information on Demand For Dummies, IBM Limited Edition (2008) (both John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

Judith holds BS and MS degrees from Boston University, serves on several advisory boards of emerging companies, and was named a distinguished alumnus of Boston Universitys College of Arts & Sciences in 2005. She serves on Boston Universitys Alumni Council. She is also a recipient of the 2005 Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council award.

Alan F. Nugent is a Principal Consultant with Hurwitz & Associates. Al is an experienced technology leader and industry veteran of more than three decades. Most recently, he was the Chief Executive and Chief Technology Officer at Mzinga, Inc., a leader in the development and delivery of cloud-based solutions for big data, real-time analytics, social intelligence, and community management. Prior to Mzinga, he was executive vice president and Chief Technology Officer at CA, Inc. where he was responsible for setting the strategic technology direction for the company. He joined CA as senior vice president and general manager of CAs Enterprise Systems Management (ESM) business unit and managed the product portfolio for infrastructure and data management. Prior to joining CA in April of 2005, Al was senior vice president and CTO of Novell, where he was the innovator behind the companys moves into open source and identity-driven solutions. As consulting CTO for BellSouth he led the corporate initiative to consolidate and transform all of BellSouths disparate customer and operational data into a single data instance.

Al is the independent member of the Board of Directors of Adaptive Computing in Provo, UT, chairman of the advisory board of SpaceCurve in Seattle, WA, and a member of the advisory board of N-of-one in Waltham, MA. He is a frequent writer on business and technology topics and has shared his thoughts and expertise at many industry events throughout the years.

He is an instrument rated private pilot and has played professional poker for the past three decades. In his sparse spare time he enjoys rebuilding older American muscle cars and motorcycles, collecting antiquarian books, epicurean cooking, and has passion for cellaring American and Italian wines.

Fern Halper, PhD, is a Fellow with Hurwitz & Associates and Director of TDWI Research for Advanced Analytics. She has more than 20 years of experience in data analysis, business analysis, and strategy development. Fern has published numerous articles on data analysis and advanced analytics. She has done extensive research, writing, and speaking on the topic of predictive analytics and text analytics. Fern publishes a regular technology blog. She has held key positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Lucent Technologies, where she was responsible for developing innovative data analysis systems as well as developing strategy and product-line plans for Internet businesses. Fern has taught courses in information technology at several universities. She received her BA from Colgate University and her PhD from Texas A&M University.