Big Data: Volume and Value Really Matter

At a recent big data conference I realized that volume and value really matter if you are going to work with big data effectively. I asked: How big is 64 Terabytes of memory in laymen terms? and was told the following:

• If listening to CDs, a person would have to listen for 14 years straight to hear 64 TB of music.
• 64 TB is 4 times the amount of memory that the IBM "Watson" was able to use when playing Jeopardy.
• A spreadsheet with a one line entry for every person in the US – about 300 Million, 213,000 bytes of information could be stored for each person. Note: A typical email is only about 500 bytes, so 425,000 of these email equivalents could be stored for each person like name, address, multiple phone numbers, old addresses, social security number, all their grades in school, all credit card information, and lots more could be stored for each person...