Big data, or huge amount of data, refers to the information that involves so much data that it can't be captured, managed, processed and sorted by the current mainstream software tools to help enterprises make more active decisions within a reasonable time. ?

In The Age of Big Data, co-authored by Victor Meyer-Schoenberg and Kenneth Cookeye, big data means that all data are used for analysis and processing, and there is no shortcut to random analysis (sampling survey). 5V characteristics of big data (proposed by IBM): volume (mass), speed (high speed), diversity (diversity), value (low value density) and authenticity. ?

Gartner, a research institute of "big data", gives such a definition. "Big data" is an information asset, which needs a new processing mode to have stronger decision-making, insight and process optimization capabilities to adapt to mass, high growth rate and diversification.

The definition given by McKinsey Global Institute is that the scale of data sets far exceeds the capabilities of traditional database software tools in acquisition, storage, management and analysis, with four characteristics: massive data scale, rapid data flow, diverse data types and low value density.

The strategic significance of big data technology lies not in mastering huge data information, but in specialized processing of these meaningful data. In other words, if big data is compared to an industry, then the key to the profitability of this industry lies in improving the "processing ability" of data and realizing the "value-added" of data through "processing". ?

Technically, the relationship between big data and cloud computing is as inseparable as the front and back of a coin. Big data cannot be processed by a single computer, and it must adopt a distributed architecture. It is characterized by distributed data mining of massive data. But it must rely on the distributed processing of cloud computing, distributed database, cloud storage and virtualization technology. ?