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343 Industries Gets New User Insights from Big Data in the Cloud

The Halo franchise is an award-winning collection of properties that has grown into a global entertainment phenomenon. To date, more than 50 million copies of Halo video games have been sold worldwide. As developers prepared to launch Halo 4, they were tasked with analyzing data to gain insights into player preferences and support an online tournament. To handle those requests, the team used a powerful Microsoft technology called Windows Azure HDInsight Service, based on the Apache Hadoop big data framework. Using HDInsight Service to process and analyze raw data from the Windows Azure cloud operating system, the team was able to feed game statistics to the tournament’s operator, which used the data to rank players based on game play. The team also used HDInsight Service to update Halo 4 every week and support a daily email campaign designed to increase player retention. Organizations can also take advantage of data to quickly make business decisions.

Situation

Halo 4 marks the beginning of a new saga in the blockbuster franchise that has shaped entertainment history and defined a generation of gamers. Developed by Microsoft Studios’ 343 Industries game studio exclusively for the Microsoft Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, Halo 4 brings back the Master Chief character in a new, epic sci-fi adventure. Released in November 2012, the game achieved more than $220 million in global sales in its first 24 hours and attracted more than 4 million players in its first five days after launch.

For the Halo Services Team, a development team at 343 Industries that manages the game, one of the biggest challenges is scaling to meet player demands. That’s one reason the team uses Windows Azure to power the game’s back-end supporting services. These services run the game’s key multiplayer features, including leaderboards and avatar rendering. Hosting the multiplayer parts of the game in Windows Azure ensures that the team has a way to quickly and inexpensively add and remove server capacity as needed.
As the game was prepared for release, however, 343 Industries was faced with an entirely new kind of challenge: to gain insight into player behavior and user preferences. To achieve this goal, Microsoft leadership asked 343 Industries to find a way to effectively mine user data.

At the same time, the team was faced with another need: analyzing data during the five-week Halo 4 “Infinity Challenge” tournament and providing results each day to their tournament partner, Virgin Gaming. The Halo 4 Infinity Challenge, the largest free-to-enter online Halo tournament in the world, tracked a player’s personal score in the game’s multiplayer modes across a global leaderboard, giving players a chance to win more than 2,800 prizes. Virgin Gaming needed to use business intelligence (BI) data gathered during the event to update leaderboards on the tournament website.

To meet these business requirements, 343 Industries knew it needed to find a BI technology solution that would integrate with Windows Azure. “One of the great things about 343 Industries is how they use cutting-edge technology like Azure,” says Alex Gregorio, Program Manager for Microsoft Studios, which published Halo 4. “So we wanted to find the best BI environment out there, and we needed to make sure it integrated with Azure.”

Because all Halo 4 game data is housed in Windows Azure, the team wanted to find a solution that could effectively produce usable BI information from that data. The team also needed to process this data in the same data center, minimizing storage costs and avoiding charges for data transfers across two data centers. Additionally, the team wanted full control over job priorities, so that the performance and delivery of analytical queries would not be affected by other processing jobs run at the same time. “We had to have a flexible solution that was not on-premises,” states Gregorio.
The team began its search for a new BI solution in the months leading up to the scheduled November launch of Halo 4.

Solution

Although it initially considered building its own custom BI solution, 343 Industries ultimately decided to use HDInsight Service, which is based on Apache Hadoop, an open-source software framework created by Yahoo! Hadoop, which is ideal for running complex analytics, can analyze massive amounts of unstructured data in a distributed manner. HDInsight Service is a big data solution for Windows Azure that empowers users to gain new insights from unstructured data, while connecting that data to familiar Microsoft BI tools. “Even though we knew we would be one of the earliest customers of HDInsight Service, it met all our requirements,” says Tamir Melamed, Development Manager on the Halo Services Team. “It can run any possible queries, and it is the best format for integration with Azure.”

The team was particularly attracted to the flexibility of HDInsight Service, which allowed for separating the amount of the raw data from the processing size needed to consume that data. “With previous systems, we never had the separation between production and raw data, so there was always the question of how running analytics would affect production,” says Mark Vayman, Lead Program Manager for the Halo Services Team. “Hadoop solved that problem.”

HDInsight Service was also instrumental in changing the team’s focus from data storage to useful data analysis. That’s because Hadoop applies structure to data when it’s consumed, as opposed to traditional data warehouse applications that structure data before it is placed into a BI system.

The team wrote Windows Azure–based services that convert raw game data collected in Windows Azure into the Avro format, which is supported by Hadoop. This data is then pushed from the Windows Azure services in the Avro format into Windows Azure binary large object (BLOB) storage, which HDInsight Service is able to utilize with the ASV protocol. The data can then be accessed by anyone with the right permissions from Windows Azure.

Every day, Hadoop handles millions of data-rich objects related to Halo 4, including preferred game modes, game length, and many other items. With Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Microsoft SharePoint as a front-end presentation layer, Windows Azure BLOBs are created based on queries from the Halo 4 team.

Microsoft SQL Server PowerPivot for Microsoft Excel loads data from HDInsight Service using the Hadoop Hive ODBC driver. A PowerPivot workbook is then uploaded to PowerPivot for SharePoint and refreshed nightly within a SharePoint site, using the connection string stored in the workbook via the Hive ODBC driver to HDInsight Service. The team uses the workbooks to generate reports and facilitate their viewing of interactive data dashboards.

Benefits

Using HDInsight Service, 343 Industries is more agile and can respond faster to customer requests. With the solution’s flexibility, the Halo Services Team is able to make weekly updates to the game and was able to help Virgin Gaming detect cheaters in the online Infinity Challenge tournament. HDInsight Service also supports customized email campaigns that the Halo marketing team is using to improve the user experience and retain players. In addition, the solution relies on familiar tools that can be used to simplify decision making.

Increases Agility and Speeds Response Time
With HDInsight Service, 343 Industries is more agile and can respond more quickly to business requests for BI. Part of the reason for this agility is the solution’s performance. With Hadoop, the team was able to build a configuration system that can be used to turn various Windows Azure data feeds on or off as needed. “That really helps us get optimal performance, and it’s a big advantage because we can use the same Azure data source to run compute for HDInsight Service on multiple clusters,” says Vayman. “It made it easy for us to drive business requests for analysis through an ad-hoc Hadoop cluster without affecting the jobs being run.”

And launching Hadoop clusters is a simple, fast process. “We can easily launch a new Hadoop cluster in minutes, run a query, and get back to the business in a few hours or less,” says Melamed. “Azure is very agile by nature, and Hadoop on Azure is more powerful as a result.”

Helps Halo 4 Team Make Weekly Game Updates
In addition to responding quickly to business requests, the Halo 4 team can take BI data pulled from the game each day and identify user trends, such as the average length of a game and the specific game features that players use the most. By getting these insights, the Halo 4 team can make frequent updates to the game. “Based on the user preference data we’re getting from Hadoop, we’re able to update game maps and game modes on a week-to-week basis,” says Vayman. “And the suggestions we get in the forums often find their way into the next week’s update. We can actually use this feedback to make changes and see if we attract new players. Hadoop and the forums are great tuning mechanisms for us.”

The team is also taking user feedback and giving it to the game’s designers, who can consider the suggestions in developing future editions of Halo.

Provides In-Game Analysis and Helps Identify Cheaters
Because Hadoop applies structure to data when it’s consumed, the team can focus more on analytics and less on storage. Instead of worrying about how to store and structure game data, the team can concentrate on what game modes users play in or how many users are playing at any given time. With this ability to focus more tightly on analysis, 343 Industries could meet the needs of Virgin Gaming. “Using Microsoft HDInsight Service, we were able to analyze the data during the five weeks of the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge,” says Vayman. “With the fast performance we got from the solution, we could feed that data to Virgin Gaming so it could update the leaderboards on the tournament website every day.”

In addition, because of the way the team set up Hadoop to work within Windows Azure, the team was able to detect cheaters during the Halo 4 Infinity Challenge. “HDInsight Service gives us the ability to easily read the data,” says Vayman. “In this case, there are many ways in which players try to gain extra points in games, and we could look back at previous data stored in Azure and identify user patterns that fit certain cheating characteristics, which was unexpected.” After receiving this data from the team, Virgin Gaming sent out a notification that any player found or suspected of cheating would be removed from the leaderboards and the tournament.

Contributes to Player Retention
The flexibility of the HDInsight Service BI solution also gives 343 Industries a way to reach out to players through customized campaigns, such as the series of email blasts the team sent to players immediately after the launch. For that campaign, the team set up Hadoop queries to identify users who started playing on a certain date. The team then wrote a file and placed it into a storage account on Windows Azure, where it was sent through Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Integration Services into a database owned by the Microsoft Xbox marketing team.

The marketing team then used this data to send these new players emails customized by screening several variables including when they started playing Halo 4 and their game play behaviors. The choice of which email each player received was determined by the HDInsight Service system. “That gave marketing a new way to retain users and keep them interested by talking about new aspects of the game,” Gregorio says. The Halo marketing team plans to run similar email campaigns for the game until a new edition is released. “Basing an email campaign on HDInsight Service and Hadoop was a big win for the marketing team, and also for us,” adds Vayman. “It showed us that we were able to use data from HDInsight Service to customize emails, and to actually use BI to improve the player experience and affect game sales.”

Uses Familiar Tools to Simplify Decision Making
Microsoft has started to expand HDInsight Service to other internal groups, and one of the reasons adoption is growing is that users do not have to be engineers or Hadoop experts to take advantage of the technology. Data is collected in Windows Azure and made easily accessible through familiar productivity tools. “By hooking Hadoop into a set of tools that are already familiar, such as Microsoft Excel or Microsoft SharePoint, people can take advantage of the power of Hadoop without needing to know the technical ins and outs,” says Vayman. “A good example of that is the data about Halo 4 Infinity Challenge cheaters that we gave to Virgin Gaming. The people receiving that data are not Hadoop experts, but they can still easily use the data to make business decisions.”

Another reason Hadoop is becoming more widely used is that the technology continues to evolve into an increasingly powerful tool. “The traditional role of BI within Hadoop is expanding because of the raw capabilities of the platform,” says Brad Sarsfield, Microsoft SQL Server Developer. “In addition to just BI reporting, we’ve been able to add predictive analytics, semantic indexing, and pattern classification, which can all be leveraged by the teams using Hadoop.”

With these and other capabilities, there is little question that HDInsight Service will continue to positively affect business. “With Hadoop on Windows Azure, we can mine data and understand our audience in a way we never could before,” says Vayman. “It’s really the BI solution for the future.”

Windows Azure

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10 Inspiring Quotes from Women Tech Leaders

By Vanessa Voltolina as written on www.entrepreneur.com

Men have long dominated the technology industry, but the growing number of women entrepreneurs and business leaders can't be ignored. The most notable recent example is Marissa Mayer, Google's first female engineer who was appointed president and CEO of Yahoo Inc.

Here's a look at other women who may not be as well known as Mayer but are making their mark in the tech industry, as well as their inspiring words for other business owners:

Staying ahead of competitors

Sometimes when you come up with a creative new solution to a nagging problem, competitors quickly follow your lead and eat up your market share. That's what happened after Leah Busque founded TaskRabbit in 2008, an online marketplace where users post a task they need completed and it is assigned to the “TaskRabbit” who makes the lowest bid.

A former software engineer at IBM, Busque keeps her company agile by making frequent product changes, seeking out expert advisors and nurturing company culture. Since May 2011, TaskRabbit has tripled its net revenue and the number of tasks posted per month. It has also increased its user base sevenfold, while its staff has grown from seven a year ago to nearly 50 today.

Busque expects more marketplace expansion in 2012, as she works to fulfill her vision to "revolutionize the world's labor force."

Believing in your passion

In 1998, after a happy-hour revelation that tech outsourcing was the wave of the future, Cassandra Sanford and two partners decided to start an IT personnel company. What evolved out of $10,000 and some computer equipment was St. Louis-based KellyMitchell Group. Previously, Sanford had studied corporate law at St. Louis University and spent a few years as a technical staffing specialist at Boeing.

In 2004, Sanford’s goal was to generate revenue of $25 million within five years. By 2008, the company had already hit $39 million and went on to surpass $50 million in 2011.

In addition to running KellyMitchell, Sanford returned this year as chair of the Women’s Leadership Society giving initiative of United Way of Greater St. Louis. In 2011, she helped the organization raise more than $6 million. Next up: becoming a "$100 million company with 1,000 employees."

Taking the entrepreneurial leap

Canadian native Michelle Zatlyn is best known for starting San Francisco-based CloudFlare, which taps into companies’ need for fast, secure websites. The service had its beginnings at Harvard Business School, where Zatlyn was asked by co-founder Matthew Prince to join the project. After graduation, she and her two co-founders moved to California and launched CloudFlare in 2010.

CloudFlare accelerates and secures websites much like a content delivery network, but it’s easier to set up and configure. CloudFlare now delivers 65 billion web pages per month -- more than Amazon, Wikipedia, Twitter, Zynga, AOL, Apple, Bing, eBay, PayPal and Instagram combined.

Hiring the best employees

Susan Feldman and Alison Pincus's One Kings Lane is a members-only site offering high-end home and lifestyle items, with unique finds and Pinterest-worthy photos. Before launching in 2009, Feldman learned the ropes of the fashion industry while serving as vice president of sales at Polo Jeans and president of sales for Ralph Lauren Sleepwear. Pincus’s previous experience was at Walt Disney, NBC and publisher Hachette Filipacchi in marketing, business development and digital media.

While competitors such as Fab.com and Gilt Groupe have also moved into the discount décor space, Feldman and Pincus don’t foresee introducing full-priced items or expanding into new product areas. One Kings Lane has two million registered users, and generated more than $100 million in revenue in 2011.

Being a great leader

An acronym for "reliable open systems engineering," Chesterfield, Mo.-based Rose International is an IT company focusing on contingent workforce services. After beginning her career as an architect in India, founder Himanshu Bhatia, now 49, moved to the U.S. in 1987, shifted to technology and earned a master's degree in management information systems.

Bhatia’s time spent managing contractors at an aerospace manufacturing company opened her eyes to the need for improvements in boosting system quality, making pricing more competitive and creating a more nimble IT staffing model. Her response to those issues was the launch of Rose International in 1993.

In 2006, revenue reached $61 million, and it increased to $360 million in 2011. This year, Bhatia’s company was named among the top technology integrators in North America.

Leveling the playing field

What's the key to making an online video go viral? British entrepreneur Sarah Wood has the answer. In 2006, she co-founded Unruly Media, one of the companies at the forefront of online video marketing. The company acts as a technology platform for social video campaigns including Old Spice's wildly popular "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" video (more than 42 million views on YouTube) as well as Evian's lovable Roller Babies video (more than 58 million views).

Serving as COO, Wood has been instrumental in fueling the company's growth and developing its technology platform, the "Media Engagement and Measurement Engine," which Unruly says has delivered and tracked 1.65 billion video views. In 2011, Wood was named U.K. Female Entrepreneur of the Year.

Blazing your own trail

With a passion for vintage apparel and décor, Susan Gregg Koger co-founded ModCloth in 2002 from her dorm room at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The business turned a profit in 2006 with $90,000 in revenue, which skyrocketed to more than $15 million in 2009. Gregg Koger uses "social commerce” to involve potential customers in her site even if they aren’t actually buying. For example, the "Be the Buyer" program allows people to choose which styles go into production.

As the demand for vintage merchandise has grown, so has the ModCloth team, which now totals nearly 300. The success hasn't changed Gregg Koger, though. She continues to expand her inventory by traveling near and far in search of distinctive pieces for her company and her closet.

Motivating yourself

Think of Rebecca Woodcock's Cake Health -- chock full of free web and mobile tools -- as the Mint.com of wellness.

Inspired by a friend's struggle with managing health-care expenses, Woodcock launched the San Francisco-based company in 2010. She began her career in corporate technology, running product development and market strategy research for companies such as Intel, Google and LG. That experience equipped her with the know-how to make both Cake Health’s site and mobile app easy-to-navigate tools for health-care expense management.

Woodcock created Cake Health while attending a training program called the Founder Institute. Her brainchild was named the "most disruptive" startup in her 2011 graduating class.

Embracing change

If OpenTable is the standard for reservations, Fullerton, Calif.-based Starbates hopes to become the standard for customer loyalty. Serial entrepreneur Jean Chong launched Starbates in 2012, a smartphone app that patrons can download and use to scan QR codes posted in participating restaurants and unlock deals. In return, restaurant owners get information about customers and can send them customized offers.

Chong was chief executive of couponing site StretchE.com before launching her first startup, Premier Food Safety, a provider of food safety training. While Starbates isn't the first restaurant loyalty service on the market, Chong aims to change the game by providing more metrics and by not requiring a credit card to be linked to customer profiles.

Being flexible

In 2005, MissOandFriends.com became 16-year-old Juliette Brindak's method of promoting interaction and self-esteem among "tween" girls. When her sketches of “Miss O” -- created to entertain her sister, Olivia -- were a hit among family and friends, Brindak’s parents helped her think about how to create a business out of content by girls and for girls.

Fast forward to 2011, when MissOandFriends.com was rated the No. 3 “girls only” website worldwide by Alexa data. Brindak, now 22, says hiring staff has been one of her greatest challenges as a young entrepreneur. But with experience, she’s better able to read people and has gained the confidence to stand up to investors and partners.

This year, Brindak launched MissOMoms.com, a site connecting women who have daughters. Brindak says the two sites together pull in more than 3 million unique visitors a month.

On Demand Webcast: Create a Dynamic Institution Leveraging Enterprise Mobility Suite for Education

Speaker:
Sean Ferrel, President/CEO Managed Solution

Agenda:
EMS Defined (Microsoft’s Answer to Security)
Microsoft Identity Management
How to secure the Enterprise in Education using EMS
Leveraging EMS for Education Industry
Case Studies

Tune in to this webcast to learn how educational institutions can simplify IT, improve security, and empower your mobile workforce.

Create a dynamic and diverse institution that gives educators the tools to inspire students to consume and create knowledge.