HPE Acquires Assets of Troubled AI Startup MapR

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is buying MapR, which was facing an uncertain future if it didn’t secure additional financing or find a buyer.

Once worth more than $1 billion, MapR had been seeking capital for some time via debt financing to allow it to continue operating for the foreseeable future. Financial details of HPE’s acquisition weren’t disclosed.

HPE’s Patrick Osborne

Patrick Osborne, HPE’s vice president of big data and secondary storage, tells us MapR will be integrated into HPE.

“This acquisition is structured as an asset deal, and includes MapR technology, intellectual property and domain expertise in AI/ML and analytics data management,” he said. “HPE welcomes MapR customers and partners, and will be contacting them to discuss how to support existing deployments along with ongoing renewals. We are committed to supporting customers’ investments in their existing infrastructure, and we will work with customers on their renewals. We are committed to ensuring there is no disruption during this process. We are still finalizing transition plans and aren’t able to share numbers at this point, but retaining MapR talent is a priority of this acquisition and our intent is to bring as many MapR employees over to HPE as we can.”

MapR partners include resellers, ISVs and SIs in the AI/ML and analytics market. These partners will have the opportunity to join a “broad ecosystem,” Osborne said.

“We see multiple opportunities for HPE to integrate the MapR next-generation edge-to-cloud AI platform into its offering to enable data-driven transformation,” he said. “This integrated approach will enable HPE to help partners and customers adapt to rapid shifts in the technology ecosystem, extend hybrid cloud deployments, manage the size and variety of unstructured data initiatives for optimal scale and flexibility, and enhance IT expertise to create, manage and operate a complex fabric of analytics pipelines.”

MapR’s file system technology enables HPE to offer a complete portfolio of products to drive AI and analytics applications, and strengthens HPE’s ability to help customers manage their data assets end to end, from edge to cloud, Osborne said. MapR’s enterprise-grade file system and cloud-native storage services also complement HPE’s BlueData container platform strategy and will allow it to provide a “unique value proposition” for customers, he said.

“The explosion of data is creating a new era of intelligence where the winners will be the ones who harness the power of data, wherever it lives,” he said. “At HPE, we are working to simplify customers’ and partners’ adoption of AI/ML by delivering a portfolio of products and services that unlock data to transform businesses.”

“This transaction allows HPE to accelerate capabilities for the intelligent data platform and positions HPE as a strategic partner to help customers leverage AI/ML and analytics to achieve data-driven business outcomes,” MapR’s leadership team wrote in a blog. HPE’s recent moves in this space are in tune with the market’s need for a data platform to support digital transformation, the emergence of edge-to-cloud architectures, and the explosion of data driving new and autonomous use cases in industries like transportation, energy and medicine. Our community now has the opportunity to become part of HPE’s broad ecosystem. HPE plans to support existing deployments along with ongoing renewals. And, together with HPE we can innovate and develop hybrid cloud and AI solutions with the ability to better support customers worldwide.”

Enterprises across industries such as financial services, manufacturing and consumer technology use the MapR Data Platform to power their digital transformation initiatives. These companies have been able to move more quickly, grow revenue, reduce costs and diminish risk, according to HPE.