Hortonworks,
the Apache Hadoop-based data analytics provider that was spun
out from Yahoo last July, did on Oct. 12 what just about any open-source
company would have found impossible only a couple of years ago: It announced a
strategic partnership with Microsoft.
The
announcement was made at the PASS
Summit in Seattle.
You
read that correctly. Three-month-old Hortonworks now has a development
relationship with Microsoft to "accelerate and extend" new Apache
Hadoop-based distributions to run on Windows Server and in the Azure cloud
environment.
Hortonworks
CEO Eric Baldeschwieler told eWEEK
that Microsoft engineers want to "contribute to the enhancement of Apache
Hadoop. And by 'contribute,' they mean to contribute back to the Apache
Foundation, so that the work they're doing is going to end up in open source.
"We're
helping Microsoft make sure that in co-designing some of this work that we not
only achieve their goal that Windows is a great platform for Hadoop, but also
that the work we do generally enhances Hadoop," Baldeschwieler said.
Not Your Everyday Open-Source News Item
Hortonworks
will add its combination of proprietary and open-source software to Microsoft's
data platform with SQL Server 2012 and other investments for managing big data.
This
is news that would make a software developer with any kind of history in writing
or testing open-source software drop his or her jaw in disbelief.
What's
unusual here is that Microsoft, being a publicly owned company and
profit-driven since 1986 and having to answer to its shareholders, has never
been one to share its innovations with too many outside people or organizations—especially
the widespread, share-all and very democratic open-source community. So,
suffice to say that Microsoft and the open-source community have had a dicey
relationship for years.
In
case you're not familiar with the 12-year-old Apache
Software Foundation, it is an international nonprofit organization that
innovates and maintains the open source-based Apache Web Server—now the most
utilized such server in the world—along with about 90-plus other open-source
projects.
Hadoop,
the large-batch data analytics processing engine that is turning heads in many
sectors of the IT business (analytics, big data processing software, storage,
processing hardware and UI design, among others), is one of the foundation's
hottest projects at the moment.
Baldeschwieler
told eWEEK that "Microsoft is
not a monolithic organization. The people we're working with have really
impressed me. They've done their homework. They came to us with working code
and a good understanding of what the Apache community was.
"When
I first started having high-level conversations with some of their senior
execs, my first impression was: 'Are you serious?' I also told them right away
that if they wanted to do this in the right way, then I was very interested.
Our mission is to grow the community, and we see this as being very helpful for
that."
Providing Support, Training
Hortonworks
will provide Microsoft with Hadoop support and training that will help
accelerate the delivery of Microsoft's Hadoop-based distribution for Windows
Server and Windows Azure, including input around feature road map and designs,
feedback on code reviews, and regression and acceptance testing.
Microsoft
Corporate Vice President Ted Kummert told the PASS audience, "Microsoft is
committed to helping customers manage any data, any size, anywhere with the SQL
Server data platform, Windows Server and Windows Azure.
"Hortonworks
has a rich history in leading the design and development of Apache Hadoop. Their
experience and expertise in this space help us accelerate our delivery of our
Hadoop-based distribution on Windows Server and Windows Azure while maintaining
compatibility and interoperability with the broader ecosystem," Kummert
said.
No
specific timetable for the Windows Hadoop distribution was announced, but it is
possible that it will be ready for prime time by early next year.
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