PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Revolution Analytics, the leading commercial provider of software and support for the popular open source R statistics language, today announced a global sponsorship program to support the continued growth of R user groups around the world. Chicago, Los Angeles and New York R User Groups are among the first to become official participants of the Revolution Analytics R User Groups Sponsorship Program.
“R user groups are invaluable to the continued evolution of R and we want to help promote their growth by providing funding and support for local area meet-ups,” said David Smith, Revolution Analytics Vice President of Marketing and Community. “R user groups provide forums for lively, practical discussions around advanced analytics. We believe the type of collaboration happening within R user groups – where data scientists are leveraging unmatched analytic benefits from R – can help equip companies with next-generation computing ability and broaden support for R in the enterprise.”
“R user groups are a great learning channel for analytics professionals and we intend to use Revolution Analytics’ support to continue having user groups that are enjoyable and educational,” said James Long of the Chicago R Users Group. “Over the last year alone, the Chicago user group has been able to share ideas on topics like integrating R with C++, nonlinear optimization, using R to devise spread trading strategies and running R in parallel on Amazon Web Services. There is a gamut of topics we would love to cover with Revolution’s support, and we look forward to other great presentations in 2011."
Today, more than 45 R user groups exist in 17 countries. (A complete list is maintained at Revolution Analytics’ blog.) R user groups bring together data scientists from a diverse pool of backgrounds for knowledge and experience exchange. Over the last year, Revolution Analytics has grown into the most notable commercial supporter and advocate for R, and this new sponsorship program allows the company to extend support and funding to R user groups.
“The Los Angeles R user group started in 2009 when we saw a clear need for greater networking opportunities between data analysis professionals,” said Dr. Szilard Pafka, co-founder of the Los Angeles R User Group. “Today, we have over 350 online members and a very active community of 50 professionals who convene monthly. We are thrilled to be among the first participants in Revolution Analytics’ program and anticipate that their support will enable us to attract more data analysts and scientists who want to promote increased collaboration and innovation around R.”
Participating R user groups receive the following benefits:
- An annual cash grant from Revolution Analytics to subsidize meeting venues, speakers and refreshments;
- Support from Revolution Analytics to help promote user group meetings and events, including at the R Community Calendar;
- Promotional materials to help spread the word about Revolution R Enterprise; and
- Member discounts for Revolution R Enterprise software.
To learn more about becoming a sponsored R user group, visit the Revolution Analytics R User Groups Sponsorship Program.
“Revolution’s user groups sponsorship can open up a lot of collaboration options, which is a huge benefit to us, as well as other groups,” said Drew Conway of the New York R User Group. “We consistently uncover new ways to solve problems with R and we’re very grateful to see a commercial company care about working with data scientists who are ’at the wheel’ of advanced analytics.”
The next New York user group meeting on February 15 will feature Amanda Cox from the New York Times’ Graphics Department to present how R is used in the news cycle to crunch data and prepare graphics before they go to print or online.
Online Resources
- Apply for R User Group Sponsorship
- Locate an R user group
- View the R Community Calendar
- Read Revolution R Enterprise customer testimonials
- Download Revolution R Enterprise
- Download a free academic license for Revolution R Enterprise
- Check out Inside-R.org for R project packages and resources
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on TwitterRead Revolution’s blog
About Revolution Analytics
Revolution Analytics (www.revolutionanalytics.com) delivers advanced analytics software at half the cost of existing solutions. By building on open source R—the world’s most powerful statistics software—with innovations in big data analysis, integration and user experience, Revolution Analytics meets the demands and requirements of modern data-driven businesses. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Revolution Analytics is backed by North Bridge Venture Partners and Intel Capital.