KEYNOTE: Flavio Villanustre (VP Technology, LexisNexis Risk Solutions)

TITLE
Commercial Big Data Workloads. Lessons from the Industry.  

ABSTRACT
Workload characterization is a critical activity when designing and implementing computing platforms. Inadequate understanding of the way typical workloads will stress out the different subsystems can lead to inefficient setups, where one component impairs the performance of the entire system. LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a RELX Group Division, originally designed and developed the open source HPCC Systems platform, a Big Data processing and analytics distributed system used to power all of its data and analytical services. As part of the design of the HPCC Systems platform, careful analysis of the different expected workloads provided valuable insight that helped with the engineering of a highly efficient system. During this presentation, we will review the different workloads typical in a Big Data enterprise and analyze the decisions that go into the design and implementation of a Big Data platform.  

BIO
Dr. Flavio Villanustre leads HPCC Systems, and is also VP, Technology for LexisNexis Risk Solutions. In this position, he is responsible for Information and Physical Security, overall platform strategy and new product development. Dr. Villanustre is also involved in a number of projects involving Big Data integration, analytics and Business Intelligence. Previously, Dr. Villanustre was Director of Infrastructure for Seisint. Prior to 2001, Flavio served in a variety of roles at different companies including Infrastructure, Information Security and Information Technology. In addition to this, Dr. Villanustre has been involved with the open source community for over 15 years through multiple initiatives. Some of these include founding the first Linux User Group in Buenos Aires (BALUG) in 1994, releasing several pieces of software under different open source licenses, and evangelizing open source to different audiences through conferences, training and education. Prior to his technology career, Dr. Villanustre was a neurosurgeon.