Big data analytics often cost big bucks and take a lot of know-how to implement effectively. PatternBuilders founders, Terence Craig, CEO and chief technology officer, and Mary Ludloff, vice president of marketing, are taking advantage of the Microsoft BizSpark program to offer more affordable solutions.
“We found it disconcerting that there was such a huge divide between big data excitement and actual adoption rates,” said Craig. “Taking advantage of big data analytics often requires a budget, toolset and in-house expertise far beyond what most enterprises can muster. Mary and I founded PatternBuilders because we thought there must be a better approach.”
“At first, most enterprises we talked to assumed they could figure out how to do a big data analytics solution on their own, but then they found out it’s really, really difficult,” said Craig. “Making the tools easy to use and scalable requires hiding a lot of very complex multiprocessing and multithreading issues.”
PatternBuilders’ first products include pre-customized solutions, such as its FinancePBI for the financial services industry, and a standard, enterprise-ready analytics application (AnalyticsPBI) that analysts or quants can easily customize to meet all their company’s big data analytics needs.
“We’ve made sure that our customers can take our solutions into their companies and start using them right away,” said Ludloff.
For the PatternBuilders founders, entry into the Microsoft BizSpark program strengthens their ties to Microsoft technologists, providing direct access to experts who answer questions and help solve technical issues quickly.
“When we started evaluating technologies for PatternBuilders, we were impressed by Microsoft’s multiprocessing capabilities, the cohesiveness of the .NET Framework, its developer toolkits and the Windows Azure cloud platform,” said Craig.
“As an independent software developer, I don’t like surprises with my technology,” he continued. “With Microsoft, we seldom get surprised, thanks to its interconnected vision and strong tooling. Also, the widespread familiarity with Microsoft tools means we can achieve tremendous productivity with fewer senior engineers — leaving our senior folks free to focus on the truly tough problems. Plus, the ubiquity of Windows in the enterprise and Azure features like Virtual Networks make it easy for us to work with our customers’ existing infrastructures.”
To learn more: Read the Microsoft News Center feature on PatternBuilders and check other BizSpark stories.
Bruce Vanderpool
Microsoft News Center Staff