Big data: From beginning to future

Big data is a potential research area receiving considerable attention from academia and IT communities. In the digital world, the amounts of data generated and stored have expanded within a short period of time. Consequently, this fast growing rate of data has created many challenges. In this paper, we use structuralism and functionalism paradigms to analyze the origins of big data applications and its current trends. This paper presents a comprehensive discussion on state-of-the-art big data technologies based on batch and stream data processing. Moreover, strengths and weaknesses of these technologies are analyzed. This study also discusses big data analytics techniques, processing methods, some reported case studies from different vendors, several open research challenges, and the opportunities brought about by big data. The similarities and differences of these techniques and technologies based on important parameters are also investigated. Emerging technologies are recommended as a solution for big data problems. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.