First, let me say how pleased I am to be a part of the Data Science Central community. While I was the VP of Marketing at EMC Greenplum, I had a front row seat to the dynamic and very exciting “Big Data” and “Data Science” shows. EMC Greenplum has played a pivotal role in helping organizations of all sizes start the process of orienting their businesses and decision-making around data. It has been said, and I’ll say it again –the companies that embrace the power of data and live that life will be the winners. The companies that don’t, no doubt in my mind, will lose. So, it is with great pleasure that I share with you the identity of 5 startups that will join the likes of EMC Greenplum in providing meaningful opportunities for their employees and customers.

Platfora
Ben Werther and Pete Schlampp are two guys that I’ve had the pleasure of working with before. Ben, at Greenplum and Pete, at IronPort. What they are building at Platfora embodies two of the tenets that I believe will drive the real future of Big Data: Speed and Ease. (the other is beauty). Yes, Gartner has their “Velocity, Volume, Variety.” And I have mine: Speed, Ease, and Beauty! Platfora

DataStax
Cassandra in the NoSQL movement has not enjoyed the hype of let’s say…Mongo, but I view that as a good thing. It’s a great entrepreneurs’ story how co-founders Matt Pfeil and Jonathan Ellis, while at Rackspace, had a mind meld to create DataStax, and the vision to wrap support and services around Cassandra so mere mortals could reap the benefits. My favorite Cassandra users: Adobe, Netflix, Spotify, and Soundcloud! DataStax

Visual.ly
Former Mint.com folks have formed a company that in my opinion can be the leading “punch line” for big data. Truth be told, all kinds of smart people can do ridiculously amazing analytics on vast amounts of data, but if you can’t articulate a clear and compelling story about the work --then why bother? The spirit of visual.ly is clear: storytelling. And they take it seriously. Here’s a bit about their take on ethics:

We agree to the following principles to support data analysis and visualization:

• Data will be accurate and verifiable - Visual.ly will not "lie with statistics."
• Proper Sourcing & Attribution - Visual.ly will always give credit where due and will do its own reporting.
• Best Practices in Visual Representation - Visual.ly will not exploit idiosyncrasies of the human visual system to exaggerate or misrepresent data.

Most succinctly stated, Visual.ly's policy is one that embodies accuracy, honesty, and transparency. Visual.ly

Domo
The Josh James startup has assembled an impressive team. I love that communications great, Julie Kehoe, formerly of the OutCast Agency, made the trek from NYC to Domo HQ in Utah. I view that as a sign that something special is going on there. The company’s focus on the user experience aspect of BI is right on the money. It will be fun to watch the customer traction at Domo, beyond ASU and the Fort Worth Police department. Domo

Metamarkets
Yes, saving the best for last. Metamarkets. I think that this is THE company to watch in 2012. Why? Because they have the opportunity to raise the Big Data bar so high that other companies become irrelevant. Stay tuned. Metamarkets