NetApp's Hadoop deal targets EMC

data efforts, NetApp has partnered with Cloudera to deliver a preconfigured Hadoop storage system, GigaOM reports.

Called the NetApp Open Solution for Hadoop, the new product combines Cloudera's Hadoop distribution and management software with a NetApp-built RAID architecture.

Hadoop is great for storing and processing large quantities of unstructured data, but it does involve a fair amount of operational complexity to keep it running smoothly.

According to InformationWeek, the partnership is clearly a response to an alliance struck in May between NetApp rival EMC and MapR Technologies.

As part of that deal, EMC entered the Hadoop enterprise support business in direct competition with Cloudera, and it incorporated MapR's software as part of a Greenplum HD Enterprise Edition Hadoop software distribution.

A Java-based platform for distributed data processing, Hadoop has gained interest and adoption in recent years on the strength of its ability to handle the big data encountered by Internet businesses and other organisations handling hundreds of terabytes, if not petabytes, of information.

Meanwhile, Digital Media Wire says Cloudera, a Palo Alto-based developer of data management software and services based on the open source Apache Hadoop framework, said it has raised $40 million in its fourth round of funding, led by Ignition Partners.