Big Data Analytics Reduced from Days to Minutes to Help Prevent Future Death and Disability from Many Conditions

REDWOOD CITY, CA – November 15, 2011 – Actian Corporation (formerly Ingres Corp) today announced that CTSU (the MRC/Cancer Research UK/BHF Clinical Trial Service Unit & Epidemiological Studies Unit of Oxford University) has selected Vectorwise to extract and analyse data pertaining to the causes, prevention and treatment of premature death and disability worldwide.  Research data extraction and processing that once took days now takes minutes, thanks to Actian’s record-breaking Vectorwise technology.

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The CTSU primarily studies the causes and treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart attack or stroke (which, collectively, account for most adult deaths worldwide). Through its involvement with the UK Biobank project, the unit is collecting many thousands of pieces of information from each of more than half a million volunteers and will make this data available anonymously to the worldwide scientific community. 

As UK Biobank involves following thousands of people over many decades, the project aims to show more reliably than ever before why some people develop disease and others do not. This should help to find new ways to prevent death and disability from many different conditions. 

Complex data manipulation and examination is at the centre of the research.  Accuracy is paramount. The worldwide reputation of the CTSU rests upon the precision of its output and the efficiency with which it obtains it.  The team at CTSU had previously been frustrated with the speed of data extraction as even modest queries were often taking days to process.  Vectorwise slashed this to minutes.  The new analytic speed will unlock the potential of future research by allowing investigations without prohibitive delays.

“Actian is processing, at lightning speed, the large-scale epidemiological evidence that is crucial to investigating reliably the causes, prevention and treatment of premature death and disability,” said Alan Young, Director of Information Science, CTSU. “Since starting work on the UK Biobank project, the amount of data we are working with has grown massively.  Without Vectorwise, we simply would not be able to process this information, without having to wait days or weeks for each output.”

“The CTSU and its valuable research are a perfect example of how data touches every aspect of our lives,” said Steve Shine, CEO, Actian. “Our technology is helping organisations find that needle of knowledge in the haystack of massive data.  Innovations such as Vectorwise and our recently announced Action Apps allow organisations to take action on information more quickly than ever before.  Whether it’s providing a competitive edge to large enterprises or – as in this case – helping scientists save lives, Actian delivers smart, cost-effective solutions.”