Opera Solutions, LLC is a technology and analytics company mainly focused on big data. The firm uses a combination of machine learning science, advanced predictive analytics, technology, large-scale data management, and human expertise., Opera Solutions delivers predictive analytics as a service, and offers hosted, cloud-based systems for specific business problems, e.g., predicting the behavior of individual consumers, stopping revenue leakage in hospitals, warning of threats to corporate security or brand health, etc. The company also works with some large clients for highly customized systems.
Introduction
Established in 2004 by CEO Arnab Gupta, Opera is headquartered in the New York/New Jersey metro area with offices in Jersey City, New York, London, Boston, San Diego, Shanghai, and New Delhi. In January, 2012, the company was valued around $500 million.
Funding
On September 14, 2011, Opera announced $84 million in investment. The round was led by Silver Lake Sumeru, with participation from Accel-KKR, Invus Financial Advisors, JGE Capital Management, and Tola Capital. In May 2013, Indian outsourcing-service company, Wipro Ltd., agreed to acquire a minority stake in Opera for $30 million.
Netflix Prize
In 2009 Opera participated in the Netflix Prize, a three-year-long analytics competition sponsored by the U.S. online movie rental company Netflix. Opera was part of "The Ensemble", a three-team consortium that finished second, with model performance tied with the winner. The contest attracted 41,000 teams from 186 countries.
KDD Cup
In 2012 Opera entered the KDD Cup, a well known data-mining competition that attracts industry leaders around the world. Competing against 170 teams, Team Opera Solutions won second place in the Track 2 contest.
Heritage Health Prize
In 2013 Opera participated in the Heritage Health Prize Competition, a two-year national contest to create breakthrough techniques to improve America’s health care system. Team Opera Solutions was ranked top 5 five out of 1659 participants, but were subsequently disqualified and removed from the leaderboard.
Industry Recognition
Gartner, Inc. recognized Opera Solutions in their Cool Vendors in Analytics, 2013 Report. IDG’s Computerworld Honors Program recognized Opera Solutions Government Services (OSGS) as one of its 2013 Laureates. ESG Global named Opera Solutions as a finalist for Big Data Vendor of the Year for 2012. Opera Solutions was also recognized as a top 100 Big Data social media influencer by Big Data Republic.
Big Data Discourse Series
In April 2011, Opera Solutions began what it calls the "Big Data Discourse Series," a series of discussion events with private sector and government leaders focused on the societal and business impact of Big Data. To date, the series has featured Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker and Michael Chertoff, the former head of the United States Department of Homeland Security under George W. Bush, as keynote speakers.
Criticism
Opera Solutions was criticised by Ben Goldacre in a Guardian article regarding the 2011 Opera Solutions UK White Paper, "Realising Savings Through Procurement Optimisation", which stated that local government is missing the opportunity to save 10â€"20 per cent on procurement spending because of a lack of spending visibility and insight. Goldacre criticised Opera's report as "astonishing, shameless bait and switch", saying "these figures are all presented out of nowhere". The criticism was in response to the promotion of Opera's white paper by UK Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles MP, as well as the frequent citation of the study in British popular press.
See also
- FICO
References
External links
- Opera Solutions
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