Many people believe Big Data is simply a large amount of data, but it is defined by more than just size. Leading IT industry research group Gartner defines Big Data as:
"Big Data are high-volume, high-velocity, and/or high-variety information assets that require new forms of processing to enable enhanced decision making, insight discovery and process optimization."
Data is described within the Gartner definition (and within the IT industry) based on the three Vs:
In terms of the three Vs, the Gartner definition effectively says that:
There is a lot of data, it is coming into the system rapidly, and it comes from many different sources in many different formats.
Source: Big Data Analytics For Dummies, Michael Wessler, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2013.