For sure, Big Data was a Big Deal in 2011. With the New Year fast approaching, here’s Wikibon’s take on what to expect in 2012.

• 2012 Will Be the Year of Big Data Applications. Thanks to the intense competition between The Big Three distribution vendors, Hadoop developed rapidly in 2011 and is, by most accounts, enterprise-ready (there are always areas for improvement, of course, notably around Hadoop’s single point of failure issue.) This, along with readily available capital, will result in significant innovation from both existing and new start-up Big Data Application vendors now confident that Hadoop is for real. Expect to see new vertical Hadoop-based Big Data Applications for healthcare, retail, financial services and manufacturing in the year ahead, as well as horizontal applications focused on human capital management and enterprise resource planning. Adoption will start slow, but for traditional enterprises, Big Data Applications are the key to realizing impactful business value from Hadoop. 2012 should be a good year on this front.