The “Lowest Common Denominator” at Strata + Hadoop World 2017

What do all the data science, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence exhibitors at this popular big data conference have in common?

At Strata + Hadoop World this year, there were several vendors exhibiting across artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, streaming analytics and data science platforms, as well as analytics accelerating technologies such as GPU (graphics processing unit) and FPGA (field programmable gate arrays). 

Someone I talked to at Strata + Hadoop World made an interesting point. He said of all the vendors exhibiting at the show, we were the “lowest common denominator,” meaning almost every exhibitor needs open data connectivity across industry standards for SQL (ODBC/JDBC) and REST (OData). It’s a good point and I wanted to explore it further in this blog.

Innovations in Data Connectivity for Strata + Hadoop

We talked about two specific areas of data connectivity with conference attendees and event sponsors:

A. Client Connectivity: Strategies to expose data over standard SQL and REST for popular tools and frameworks across hybrid cloud and on-premises deployments

B. Backend Connectivity: Fast load and export of data with external systems in the cloud or on the ground

Progress is the world’s largest vendor-agnostic data access infrastructure vendor according to IDC, and our data access layers are engineered for distribution with modern infrastructure. Below are some of the different types of vendors at the event, I’ll categorize each in terms of which directions (A for client, B for backend and C for both) we’re hearing demand for around open data connectivity. 

[Category B] Data Management, Integration, Preparation

Exhibitors in this space include organizations such as Actian, Paxata, Informatica, Pentaho, Syncsort, SnapLogic, Trifacta and others. These vendors access data from a variety of on-premises big data, cloud, relational and NoSQL data sources. There was also a lot of interest in bulk exporting data from the cloud to on-premises business applications, data warehouses and data marts.

[Category B] BI and Analytics

Exhibitors in this space include organizations such as ClearStory Data, Jethro Data, SAS, SAP and others. We heard strong demand for hybrid connectivity to access data behind any firewall without requiring SSH tunnels, reverse proxies or VPN Setups.  

[Category A] Databases  

Exhibitors in this space include MemSQL, Snowflake Computing, Kinetica, VoltDB and others. We partner with database vendors, such as VoltDB, for open analytics and connectivity to their database. Our open connectors are built on a codebase that is certified across third-party applications such as Tableau, Excel, Qlik, Spotfire, Alteryx, SSIS, IBM Cognos, SAP Business Objects, Informatica PowerCenter, Salesforce and more.

[Category C] Big Data Platforms  

Exhibitors in this space include Hortonworks, TalkingData, Cloudera, MapR and others. We saw a lot of interest in operationalizing these platforms through both client and backend data connectivity.  

[Category C] Machine Learning and AI

Exhibitors in this space include DataRobot, DeepSense, Intel, Google and others. Many of these technologies are getting started with enterprise adoption, and we expect the winners in the space to start exploring robust data connectivity.

If you’d like to learn how to embed a complete data access layer for your big data or cloud solution, talk to one of our data connectivity experts today.

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