IEEE news: How to manage an impending deluge of new data?

The WalMart project, which aims to have every item delivered and sold tagged with a radio frequency identification strip (RFID), is only the tip of an information iceberg. As the data streaming from computers, sensors, and other real-time devices swells, a new infrastructure will be required to manage it. Software engineers are developing stream-processing engines to handle the flood.

See "Data Torrents and Rivers," by Michael Stonebraker: the link