HP Steps Up Big Data Game with Cloud-Based Helion Offering

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) made another significant move within the Big Data market this week with the announcement of Haven OnDemand, which brings the data analytics and app development features of the company's Vertica and IDOL platforms to the cloud.

The tools, which are hosted on the Helion cloud, provide access to Vertica's data analytics functionality, as well as the capabilities of IDOL, which is designed to assist developers in building apps that leverage big data.

The new offering is all about speed and accessibility, HP says. By moving its core Big Data tools to the cloud, the company is aiming to allow organizations "to gain blazing fast insights, rapid time to value and analytic functionality on all types of data, within minutes," it said in a statement.

Building on that point, Robert Youngjohns, GM and EVP, HP Software, said, "To succeed in today’s marketplace, businesses must be able to leverage all forms of data, at high speed and in context, in order to capitalize on emerging opportunities and manage risk and costs. With today’s announcement, we are making our unique Big Data platform more accessible and adaptable than ever before."

The Haven OnDemand announcement coincided with news from HP regarding several other important Big Data moves this week, including a new set of system-automation tools based on Haven, an updated version of the ArcSight ESM security platform and a new data management tool.

All of these moves reflect the central role that big data is now playing in HP's operations, as well as the company's increasingly important position within the big data ecosystem—which is notable, since most of the other big players in this niche are younger companies that focus specifically on big data. HP clearly believes there's room in this market for larger, more established organizations, too.