MapR wins Apache Foundation blessing for SQL-on-Hadoop technology
MapR Technologies Inc. passed a major landmark in its journey to deliver structured query functionality for Hadoop on Tuesday after its open-source Drill tool graduated from incubation at the Apache Software Foundation to become a top-level project. The inauguration comes a month and a half after the company integrated the technology into its commercial version of the batch processing framework.
The move elevates Drill to the same level as the rest of the upstream Hadoop ecosystem, putting MapR on the high ground against competitors in the SQL war that is raging in the community. Other players seeking to help users access the platform with the same ease as their relational databases include Cloudera Inc. with Impala and the Hive data warehouse that Hortonworks Inc.
Drill arrived fairly late to the game, launching almost a year after Impala and more than two behind Hive, but MapR nonetheless managed to set it apart with early SQL:2003 compatibility – which Cloudera only added in October – and support for multiple systems besides Hadoop. That makes Drill better suited for use in heterogeneous environments, a category that includes practically every enterprise deployment, but also pits it against the commercial unified query tools Teradata Corp. and Oracle Corp. are pushing.
Another plus for Drill is that it doesn’t require business users to wait for their IT departments to implement data models before they can start manipulating information, which saves time and makes it possible to adjust for new requirements on a much more fluid basis. Coupled with the other functionality MapR has thrown into the mix, that makes the tool one of the top contenders in the SQL-on-Hadoop space. Its induction into the ranks of top-level projects helps its chances. MapR is the only Hadoop distribution to include Drill out of the box.
MapR will need more than structured query functionality to differentiate against its better-funded competition as the race to the stock exchange heats up, but the Apache endorsement is an important shot in the arm.
Photo via Pixabay
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