Big Data Vendor MapR Debuts Hadoop Enhancement Product

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: The success of open source Big Data technologies depends on channel partners willing to integrate them into value-added, user-friendly tools. In the latest example of that trend, MapR has announced a new product, M7, that combines Hadoop and NoSQL in a robust and simple platform. Here’s the scoop.

MapR, which develops value-added versions of the open source Apache Hadoop distributed computing platform, already has a number of significant partners in the open source space and beyond. The company has worked closely with open source Big Data vendor Talend. Meanwhile, Amazon.com has endorsed MapR technologies for its Elastic MapReduce servers, and Google has also made use of its solutions for distributed computing.

The company’s latest move doesn’t quite involve a new partnership, but the release of M7 does promise to expand MapR’s opportunities throughout the channel by gaining it new exposure in the market for value-added Big Data technologies.

The major selling point of the new product, according to MapR, is the reliability and performance enhancements it brings to Big Data operations in the enterprise. Regarding the HBase structured storage system for Hadoop, for instance, MapR promises:

M7 also improves HBase scalability and administration, according to MapR.

The product, released Oct. 23, 2012, is currently available through a beta program.

Big Data vendors and channel partners should take notice. This release from MapR is only the most recent reminder that, despite the great power of freely distributed open source technologies such as Hadoop are — or, perhaps, precisely because they are so powerful and complex — deploying them in enterprise environments becomes much more realistic with the assistance of value-added platforms that provide better ease of use and peace of mind. Plenty of opportunity remains to integrate in this niche.