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IBM BigInsights VS Apache Beam

Compare IBM BigInsights VS Apache Beam and see what are their differences

IBM BigInsights logo IBM BigInsights

IBM BigInsights is an enterprise platform that combines Hadoop and Spark for fast analysis and processing of data.

Apache Beam logo Apache Beam

Apache Beam provides an advanced unified programming modelย to implement batch and streaming data processing jobs.
  • IBM BigInsights Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-04
  • Apache Beam Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-31

IBM BigInsights features and specs

  • Integration with Apache Hadoop
    IBM BigInsights offers seamless integration with Apache Hadoop, allowing businesses to leverage the extensive Hadoop ecosystem and tools while benefiting from IBM's added features and capabilities.
  • Advanced Analytics
    The platform provides powerful analytics capabilities, including support for machine learning and advanced data processing, which enable users to extract valuable insights from their data efficiently.
  • Enterprise-grade Security
    IBM BigInsights incorporates robust security features such as authentication, authorization, and encryption, ensuring data protection and compliance with enterprise security standards.
  • Scalability
    The platform is designed to scale effectively, both vertically and horizontally, making it suitable for handling large volumes of data as business needs grow.
  • SQL Compatibility
    DB2 Big SQL offers SQL-based querying capabilities on Hadoop data, allowing users to utilize familiar SQL syntax for their queries, simplifying the learning curve for database professionals.
  • Integration with IBM Ecosystem
    It integrates well with other IBM products and services, providing a comprehensive suite of tools and solutions for big data analytics and management.

Possible disadvantages of IBM BigInsights

  • Complex Setup and Configuration
    Setting up and configuring IBM BigInsights can be complex and time-consuming, requiring specialized knowledge and expertise.
  • Cost
    The cost of deploying and maintaining an IBM BigInsights solution can be high, making it potentially less accessible for small to medium-sized businesses.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running IBM BigInsights may require significant computing resources, increasing the hardware and infrastructure investment necessary to support big data workloads.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    The platform might have a steep learning curve for teams unfamiliar with IBM technologies or big data platforms, necessitating training and adaptation time.
  • Dependency on IBM Support
    Users might heavily depend on IBM technical support for troubleshooting and guidance, which could slow down problem resolution and increase dependency costs.

Apache Beam features and specs

  • Unified Model
    Apache Beam provides a unified programming model that simplifies the development of both batch and stream processing applications. This reduces the complexity in maintaining separate codebases for different types of data processing needs.
  • Portability
    The portability of Apache Beam allows developers to write their code once and run it on different execution engines like Apache Flink, Apache Spark, and Google Cloud Dataflow, offering flexibility in choosing the right runtime environment.
  • Rich SDKs
    Apache Beam offers rich SDKs for multiple languages including Java, Python, and Go, allowing a broader range of developers to leverage its capabilities without being restricted to a single programming language.
  • Windowing and Triggering
    It provides powerful abstractions for windowing and triggering, enabling developers to handle out-of-order data and late data arrivals efficiently, which is crucial for accurate stream processing.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Beam

  • Complexity
    Although Apache Beam simplifies certain aspects of data processing, its unified model and advanced features can introduce complexity, making it potentially challenging for developers unfamiliar with distributed data processing concepts.
  • Limited Language Support
    While Apache Beam supports Java, Python, and Go, the level of feature support and maturity can vary between these SDKs, which might limit adoption for developers using other programming languages.
  • Performance Overhead
    The abstraction layer provided by Beam to ensure portability might result in a performance overhead compared to using execution engines directly, potentially affecting performance-sensitive applications.
  • Evolving Ecosystem
    As an evolving framework, Apache Beamโ€™s APIs and ecosystem components might change over time, requiring continuous learning and adaptation from developers to keep up with the latest updates and best practices.

IBM BigInsights videos

IBM BigInsights BigSheets Demo

More videos:

  • Review - Chat with IBM BigInsights Lab - What is new in Biginsights 4.3

Apache Beam videos

How to Write Batch or Streaming Data Pipelines with Apache Beam in 15 mins with James Malone

More videos:

  • Review - Best practices towards a production-ready pipeline with Apache Beam
  • Review - Streaming data into Apache Beam with Kafka

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to IBM BigInsights and Apache Beam)
Data Dashboard
33 33%
67% 67
Big Data
24 24%
76% 76
Data Warehousing
34 34%
66% 66
Database Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apache Beam seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 15 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

IBM BigInsights mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of IBM BigInsights yet. Tracking of IBM BigInsights recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Apache Beam mentions (15)

  • A Quick Developerโ€™s Guide to Effective Data Engineering
    Use distributed data processing frameworks like Apache Beam or Apache Spark. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Ask HN: Does (or why does) anyone use MapReduce anymore?
    The "streaming systems" book answers your question and more: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/streaming-systems/9781491983867/. It gives you a history of how batch processing started with MapReduce, and how attempts at scaling by moving towards streaming systems gave us all the subsequent frameworks (Spark, Beam, etc.). As for the framework called MapReduce, it isn't used much, but its descendant... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • How do Streaming Aggregation Pipelines work?
    Apache Beam is one of many tools that you can use. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Real Time Data Infra Stack
    Apache Beam: Streaming framework which can be run on several runner such as Apache Flink and GCP Dataflow. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • Google Cloud Reference
    Apache Beam: Batch/streaming data processing ๐Ÿ”—Link. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing IBM BigInsights and Apache Beam, you can also consider the following products

Databricks - Databricks provides a Unified Analytics Platform that accelerates innovation by unifying data science, engineering and business.โ€ŽWhat is Apache Spark?

Google Cloud Dataflow - Google Cloud Dataflow is a fully-managed cloud service and programming model for batch and streaming big data processing.

Google BigQuery - A fully managed data warehouse for large-scale data analytics.

Amazon EMR - Amazon Elastic MapReduce is a web service that makes it easy to quickly process vast amounts of data.

Qubole - Qubole delivers a self-service platform for big aata analytics built on Amazon, Microsoft and Google Clouds.

Snowflake - Snowflake is the only data platform built for the cloud for all your data & all your users. Learn more about our purpose-built SQL cloud data warehouse.