Intel Enters the Hadoop Software Market

The market for Hadoop software continues to attract new players. Intel (INTC) announced the availability of its Distribution for Apache Hadoop, including new management tools. More than 20 partners announced support for Intel’s Hadoop offering, including Cisco, Red Hat, Cray and Supermicro.

Intel’s move comes a day after EMC rolled out its own Pivotal HD Hadoop distribution integrating Greenplum’s massively parallel processing (MPP) database. Intel and EMC will compete with newer players including Map R, Hortonworks and Cloudera in the growing market for Hadoop solutions.

Apache Hadoop is a software framework that supports data-intensive distributed applications. It has become one of the most important technologies for managing large volumes of data, and has given rise to a growing ecosystem of tools and applications that can store and analyze large datasets on commodity hardware.

“Transformational Opportunity” of Big Data

“People and machines are producing valuable information that could enrich our lives in so many ways, from pinpoint accuracy in predicting severe weather to developing customized treatments for terminal diseases,” said Boyd Davis, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Datacenter Software Division. “Intel is committed to contributing its enhancements made to use all of the computing horsepower available to the open source community to provide the industry with a better foundation from which it can push the limits of innovation and realize the transformational opportunity of big data.”

The Intel open platform was built from the ground up, on Apache Hadoop, and will keep pace with the rapid evolution of big data analytics. Intel says its distribution is the first to provide complete encryption with support of Intel AES New Instructions (Intel AES-NI) in the Intel Xeon processor. Silicon-based encryption allows organizations to more securely analyze their data sets without compromising performance.

Intel Manager for Apache Hadoop simplifies the deployment, configuration and monitoring of the cluster for system administrators as they look to deploy new applications. The new Intel Active Tuner automatically configures and optimizes performance for Hadoop.

Intel has worked with strategic partners to integrate this software into a number of next-generation platforms and solutions, including:

• Red Hat plans to build solutions using Intel Distribution integrated with Red Hat solutions, such as Red Hat Storage Server 2.0 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Big data solutions resulting from the expanded Red Hat and Intel alliance will be designed to meet enterprise expectations for availability, performance, and compatibility. This builds upon Red Hat’s plans announced last week surrounding big data strategy.
• Cray announced that it will introduce a new solution combining the Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop software with the Cray Xtreme line of supercomputers. The new offering will add to Cray’s portfolio of  ”Big Data” solutions and give customers the ability to leverage the fusion of supercomputing and Big Data. “Cray has enabled customers to achieve modeling and simulation at the highest scale possible, and we are excited to work with Intel to provide dramatic new levels of data assimilation combined with modeling and simulation – driving the analytics needed for knowledge discovery and optimal decision making,” said Bill Blake, senior vice president and CTO of Cray. “The new features added to the Intel Distribution, such as greater security, improved real-time handling of sensor data, and improved performance throughout the storage hierarchy will benefit Cray’s traditional customers in big science and supercomputing, in addition to new commercial customers who need the combination of supercomputing capabilities and an enterprise-strength approach to Big Data.”
• Supermicro announced it is expanding its Hadoop Big Data initiatives with support for the new Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop. Supermicro’s Hadoop-optimized server and storage systems have undergone rigorous testing and validation.
• RainStor announced  that its Big Data Analytics on Hadoop product has been validated with the Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop software. The solution provides faster, more flexible analytics using Standard SQL, BI Tools and MapReduce without the need to move data out of the Hadoop environment.
• Zettaset announced that it supports the launch of the Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop. Joint customers of Zettaset and Intel can now benefit from the ease of use of a Hadoop installation and management solution that works with the only distribution of Apache Hadoop built from the silicon up.“Intel has worked diligently with their partners to ensure compatibility and deliver a robust, high performance Big Data solution for the enterprise,” said Zettaset President and CEO Jim Vogt. “We are excited to be included in Intel’s growing Big Data ecosystem and look forward to helping our joint customers to easily install, manage and secure their Intel-powered Hadoop deployments.”

In this video, Davis and Paul Perez, Cisco Vice President and CTO, Data Center Group discuss the extended relationship between the companies into big data.