Several notable Big Data developments cropped up this week. GridGain raised funding for its in-memory analytics solution, Cisco and NetApp expanded their FlexPod portfolio with two Hadoop systems, and App Annie released the latest version of its application performance tracking tool. IBM also put itself into the limelight with a new PowerLinux server that combines the best of Watson and open-source database software.

GridGain kicked off the week with a $10 Million Series B funding round led by Almazl. The firm said that it will use the capital to accelerate the development of its flagship in-memory analytics offering, which consists of a near real time MapReduce implementation and a key value store that supports both transactional and non-transactional workloads.

Cisco and NetApp unveiled their first workload-specific converged infrastructure lineup right on the heels of GridGain’s announcement. The platform is available in two configurations: Select with Cloudera’s Distribution including Apache Hadoop (CDH), and Select with Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP). Both models feature Cisco UCS C-Series servers and Nexus switches, along with NetApp E-Series and FAS storage systems.

Not to be outdone, IBM introduced its newest PowerLinux server the same day Select CDH and HDP made their debut. The PowerLinux 7R4 is a four socket, 32 core server that utilizes the cognitive component of Watson and EnterpriseDB’s PostgreSQL software to crunch unstructured data.

App Annie upgraded its app marketplace monitoring solution a few hours after the announcement of 7R4. The latest version introduces an Hourly Rankings dashboard, a collaboration tool, and open APIs that empower enterprises to make the most out of their data. The latter enables corporate developers to import iOS, Android, Mac App Store, and Amazon app performance data into their organizations’ private databases.