7 Search Engines for Big Data

Big Data is an all-inclusive term that refers to data sets so large and complex that they need to be processed by specially designed hardware and software tools. The data sets are typically of the order of tera or exabytes in size. These data sets are created from a diverse range of sources: sensors that gather climate information, publicly available information such as magazines, newspapers, articles. Other examples where big data is generated include purchase transaction records, web logs, medical records, military surveillance, video and image archives, and large-scale e-commerce.

There is a heightened interest in Big Data and Big Data analytics and the implications they have for businesses. Big data is more than simply a matter of size though. Big Data varies in terms of volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. The analysis of Big Data provides a unique opportunity to find insights in new and emerging types of data and content, to make a business more responsive to change, and to have answers to questions that could not previously be addressed.

Many organisations just cannot feasibly keep up with the volume and velocity of the data being generated. It calls for an entirely different approach than on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications.

This is the first in a series of articles which highlight the best open source software for making sense of Big Data. This article examines the finest open source software that provide full-featured search engines through an application programming interface. With scalable, high-performance indexing, the featured software here is designed for performing information retrieval functions on Big Data.

Now, let's explore the 7 Big Data search engines. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, together with links to relevant resources and reviews.

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Last Updated Wednesday, April 03 2013 @ 07:15 AM EST