This document discusses big data and its growth. It defines big data as datasets that are too large to capture, store, manage, share, analyze and visualize with typical database tools. It notes the explosion of unstructured data from sources like social media, sensors, and financial transactions. Examples of using big data include getting insights from remote patient monitoring, product sensors, location data and surveys to improve healthcare, manufacturing, services and marketing. The document also covers opportunities and threats of big data, and examples of big data use cases.