Cogito and 7 Degrees
Analysis of graph-oriented database/analytics vendor 7 Degrees and its predecessor Cogito. Related subjects include:
Terminology: Relationship analytics
This post is part of a series on managing and analyzing graph data. Posts to date include:
- Graph data model basics
- Relationship analytics definition (this post)
- Relationship analytics applications
- Analysis of large graphs
In late 2005, I encountered a company called Cogito that was using a graphical data manager to analyze relationships. They called this “relational analytics”, which I thought was a terrible name for something that they were trying to claim should NOT be done in a relational DBMS. On the spot, I coined relationship analytics as an alternative. A business relationship ensued, which included a short white paper. Cogito didn’t do so well, however, and for a while the term “relationship analytics” faltered too. But recently it’s made a bit of a comeback, having been adopted by Objectivity, Qlik Tech, Yarcdata and others.
“Relationship analytics” is not a perfect name, both because it’s longish and because it might over-connote a social-network focus. But then, no other term would be perfect either. So we might as well stick with it.
In that case, “relationship analytics” could use an actual definition, preferably one a little heftier than just:
Analytics on graphs.
| Categories: Cogito and 7 Degrees, Objectivity and Infinite Graph, QlikTech and QlikView, RDF and graphs, Yarcdata and Cray | 7 Comments |
Social network analysis, aka relationship analytics
A number of applications lend themselves to graph-oriented analytics, including:
- Finding bad guys (national intelligence)
- Finding bad guys (anti-fraud)
- Data mining the social graph (e.g., for advertising optimization on social networks, or to identify influencers)
There are plenty more graph-oriented applications, of course, such as the identification of biochemical pathways. But I want to focus for now on ones like those on my list. My key points are:
- There are Big Data problems that lend themselves to graphical data models.
- So far as I can tell, the database management community isn’t doing enough to address them. (If I’m wrong about that, please tell me. I plan to arrive in Lyon for VLDB/XLDB Wednesday of next week, and of course I can always be reached by email.)
Here’s what I mean. Read more
| Categories: Analytic technologies, Cogito and 7 Degrees, Data models and architecture, Data types, RDF and graphs, Theory and architecture | 21 Comments |
Bulletin on Cogito
My Bulletin on Cogito — i.e., a short-short white paper — is now available for download. Thankfully, it turned out to be pretty consistent with what I previously wrote on the company and its technology. 😉 The conclusion to the paper bears quoting here:
In deciding between conventional DBMS and specialty graph-oriented tools such as Cogito’s, there’s one key criterion: Path length. If path lengths are short and predictable, there’s a good chance that relational DBMS and their forthcoming extensions can do the job. In complex graphs with longer paths, however, relational approaches may not scale well. In such cases, specialty technologies warrant serious consideration.
| Categories: Cogito and 7 Degrees, RDF and graphs | Leave a Comment |
Introduction to Cogito
In my Computerworld column appearing today, I promised to post here about Cogito. Let me start with a disclosure and a confession: Read more
| Categories: Cogito and 7 Degrees, RDF and graphs | 8 Comments |