One Mans Data Dump Is Another Mans Data Marketplace
But how big of an opportunity? When asked at Structure Big Data how big data marketplaces could become, InfoChimps CTO Flip Kromer quipped, Were the next Google.
Moe Khosravy, the product unit manager for Windows Azure DataMarket, was a little more measured in his response. We wouldnt enter the business unless we saw it as a significant opportunity, Khosravy said.
Those companies are taking a slightly different approach to the marketplace model: Kromer said InfoChimps looks at itself as the Amazon of data, creating an open marketplace where anyone can share his data for free, or charge for it. Meanwhile, Khosravy said Microsoft is focused on high-quality data and has set its terms to ensure that.
Either way, there is clearly a demand for what theyre offering. According to Khosravy, theres currently friction for app makers and others who want to use data from multiple sources, but are unable to do so through a single consistent API.
There could be even more of an opportunity as certain vertical data industries become more mature and there needs to be someone in the middle to enable enterprises to sort through that data. Khosravy! noted t hat right now you almost need a marketplace for marketplaces, since different verticals have different APIs and ways for how their data is stored.
What we need is a generic platform for data across industries, Kromer said. Soon every industry will come online as a mature data industry.
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