1. A system for supporting big data in a process control plant, comprising: a unitary, logical data storage area including one or more data storage devices configured to store, using a common format, data corresponding to at least one of the process plant or a process that is controlled in the process plant, the data including multiple types of data, and a set of types of data including configuration data, continuous data, and event data corresponding to the process; and one or more data receiver computing devices configured to receive the data from one or more other devices via a process control big data network and to cause the received data to be stored in the unitary, logical data storage area, wherein at least one of the one or more other devices communicates with one or more field devices in the process plant via another communication network different from the process control big data network, each of the one or more other devices being a respective node of the process control big data network that (i) collects data that is generated by the respective node, (ii) transmits the collected data via the process control big data network to the one or more data receiver computing devices, and (iii) excludes a respective configuration or definition indicating a rate at which the collected data is to be transmitted by the respective node; and the received data including: data corresponding to a user input entered at one of the one or more other devices; data corresponding to the another communication network of the process plant, the another communication network of the process plant supporting at least one of a Wi-Fi protocol, an Ethernet protocol, an IEEE 802.11 compliant protocol, a mobile communication protocol, a short-wavelength radio communication protocol, 4-20 ma signaling, the wired HART® protocol, the FOUNDATION® Fieldbus protocol, the HART® protocol, the WirelessHART® protocol, the PROFIBUS protocol, or the DeviceNet protocol; and data received from a computing system external to the process plant.