ReadWriteEnterprise

It's not the "Big Data" we usually talk about, which refers more to the size of the data than of the company behind the management tool. It's the term Bruce Schneier uses to refer to the industry that has evolved around data as a commodity, the way the energy industry was once considered "Big Oil." Schneier - the celebrated cryptographer-turned-technologist and easily the RSA Security Conference's biggest draw, and a CTO at BT - believes "Big Data, Inc." poses as great a threat to personal security and privacy as malicious actors.

"I mean Big Data as an industry force, like we might talk of Big Tobacco or Big Oil or Big Pharma," Schneier told an overflow crowd of attendees. "I think the rise of Big Data is as important a threat in the coming years, one we should really look at and start taking seriously."

Remember when phones were used for, you know, phone calls? Janet Hall, senior consultant for TMNG, does. What's more, Hall says that voice communications will rise again away from a commodity to a growth market.