Most of the major Apache Hadoop distributions now offer their version of the Hadoop platform in the cloud uniting two of the biggest topics in the tech world today: big data and cloud computing. What is it about cloud computing that is so compelling for Hadoop? The cloud offers several advantages for businesses looking to use Hadoop, so all businesses – including small and medium-sized ones – can truly start to take advantage of big data. Let’s take a look at three of those advantages.
1. Flexibility and Getting Started Quickly and Easily
Bringing Hadoop to the cloud offers businesses the flexibility to use Hadoop according their needs. One can scale up or scale down as often as one needs. Most cloud providers allow users to sign up and get started within a matter of minutes, making it ideal for a small business with limited resources and for large businesses that need to scale beyond their current solution without making a long-term investment.
2. Cost-Effective
Despite the fact that the open source version of Hadoop is free, the claim that Hadoop is cheap is a myth. While Hadoop is a much more cost-effective solution for storing large volumes of data, it can still require major investments in hardware, development, maintenance and expertise. This level of investment may be worth it for companies that plan on using Hadoop regularly, but for those who only need to run occasional analytics or simply don’t have the budget for the upfront investment, the cost of Hadoop can be a real issue. The cloud offers a cost-effective solution for Hadoop. Most cloud providers charge on a pay-per-use basis so businesses can pay for the storage or analytics they need without making that upfront investment or paying for maintaining a system when it is not being used.
3. Real-Time Analytics
Big data analytics has a lot to offer. From a more complete view of the consumer to more efficient manufacturing and improved product innovation, valuable insights lie within the mass stores of multi-structured data being created. Unfortunately, the generic open source version of Hadoop cannot currently handle real time analysis, meaning businesses that want to analyze and adjust campaigns or products quickly can’t currently do so. However, MapR’s enterprise-ready distribution of Hadoop, which re-architected the data platform and applied other architectural innovations, can support real-time analytics. With this particular Hadoop distribution available on the cloud, businesses can have instant access to their data for real-time processing and analysis. These are just three advantages that Hadoop in the cloud has to offer. Depending on a business’s needs the flexibility of the cloud allows it to adapt to various situations and solve problems that may not even be listed here. Before dismissing Hadoop as beyond your reach, look into what a cloud solution has to offer.
