‘Big Data’ Hadoop Coming to BI on SQL Server, Windows Server, Windows Azure
In his keynote at PASS 2011, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Ted Kummert announced new investments to help customers manage “big data,” including an Apache Hadoop-based distribution for Windows Server and Windows Azure and a strategic partnership with Hortonworks Inc. and Hadoop Connectors for SQL Server and Parallel Data Warehouse.
Microsoft will be working with the Hadoop ecosystem, including core contributors from Hortonworks, to deliver Hadoop-based distributions for Windows Server and Windows Azure that works with industry-leading business intelligence (BI) tools, including Microsoft PowerPivot.
A Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Hadoop-based service for Windows Azure will be available by the end of 2011, and a CTP of the Hadoop-based service for Windows Server will follow in 2012. Microsoft will work closely with the Hadoop community and propose contributions back to the Apache Software Foundation and the Hadoop project.
Hadoop Connectors
The company also made available final versions of the Hadoop Connectors for SQL Server and Parallel Data Warehouse. Customers can use these connectors to integrate Hadoop with their existing SQL Server environments to better manage data across all types and forms.
More information on the connectors can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=27584.
Vision for Data
See Kummert’s blog post on Technet, Microsoft Expands Data Platform to Help Customers Manage the ‘New Currency of the Cloud’.
About Hadoop
According to the Hadoop Website, “The Apache Hadoop software library is a framework that allows for the distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of computers using a simple programming model. It is designed to scale up from single servers to thousands of machines, each offering local computation and storage. Rather than rely on hardware to deliver high-avaiability (sic), the library itself is designed to detect and handle failures at the application layer, so delivering a highly-availabile (sic) service on top of a cluster of computers, each of which may be prone to failures.”
Bruce D. KyleISV Architect Evangelist | Microsoft Corporation
