Exploding information quantities to the emergence of the term ‘Big Data’ for datasets which can’t be handled by common database and data processing tools. It literally means what it says, but beyond Volume, there are additional characteristics commonly associated with Big Data. These include Velocity – the rate at which the data is generated (and therefore changes) is rapid; and Variety/Variability – multiple data types renders standard tools incapable of handling it. Generally Big Data refers to datasets measured in terabytes, petabytes, or greater. The term can refer to the datasets themselves, as well as techniques for analysis and visualisation.