New applications on a platform designed for big data mean that firms can achieve results without employing armies of technologists.

FORBES: IBM Launches New PureSystems For Transactions And Big Data Analytics

Millions of simultaneous users play Farmville or Draw Something (which scaled up to 36 million users in 6 weeks), which requires a simple, fast, elastic database (called a NoSQL database, a new category of product designed for the age of big data), that can process and deliver massive amounts of user and other types of data in real time.

FORBES: The Big Deal On Big Data