Volume, velocity, and variety are the well-known traits of big data that are creating new challenges for the enterprise. In answer to the three Vs are the converging forces of open source, with its rapid crowd-sourced innovation, cloud, with its unlimited capacity and on-demand deployment options, and NoSQL database technologies, with their ability to handle unstructured, or schemaless, data.
One of the most promising big data frameworks is Hadoop, around which a robust ecosystem is flourishing. According to a recent Unisphere Research Quick Poll on New Database Technologies (April 2014), close to one-third of enterprises or 30% have deployed the Hadoop framework in some way or another. Another 26% are also planning to deploy Hadoop within the next year.
With unstructured data residing in big data file systems such as Hadoop, there is compelling opportunity for NoSQL database systems to thrive in big data environments. According to the DBTA poll, analytics and BI were cited as a top use for new database types, led by 62% of cloud database adopters, 61% of NoSQL sites, 58% of in-memory users, and 55% of Hadoop instances.
Here are the winners of the 2014 DBTA Readers' Choice Awards for Best Big Data Solution:
Winner: Cassandra (DataStax)
Finalists:
Cloudera Enterprise
MapR Distribution for Hadoop