MemSQL Inc. has returned to the limelight four months after its landmark funding round with the release of an open-source connector for its namesake database that simplifies the process of importing data from external sources. The launch is the latest milestone in the startup’s efforts to remove the barriers that keep information siloed in the enterprise.

The ability to act on real-time events without any logistical delays is useful in applications ranging from ad optimization to signal intelligence processing. The real-time analytics capability is one of the reasons MemSQL received a capital infusion from the Central Intelligence Agency’s investment arm as part of its September round.

The four-year-old MemSQL offers a speedy in-memory database that consolidates transaction processing and analytics on the same platform, thereby removing the need for a great deal of duplicate infrastructure and management overhead that comes with maintaining both functions. The system does away with the hassle of manually adapting a workload when switching between the two activities, which reduces both the amount of labor and the risk of human error. It also greatly shortens the time needed to make transaction data available for analysis.

The new connector, aptly dubbed MemSQL Loader, extends that flexibility beyond workloads stored directly on the platform to third-party data sources. The tool promises to make it both easier and less-time consuming to import outside information, particularly from Hadoop.

Up until now, Hadoop has been primarily used to cost-effectively accommodate large amounts of historical information for later analysis. With MemSQL Loader, organizations can now pull results from historical analysis performed on Hadoop into the platform and correlate it with real-time events.

The connector also works with Amazon.com Inc.’s S3 object service, which is another popular option for cheaply storing vast amounts of unstructured data. This addition will no doubt be appreciated at the CIA, which runs its entire operations on a dedicated AWS Region constructed at the cost of $600 million last year.

Since most organizations have many more information sources than Hadoop and S3 in their environments, MemSQL is releasing the connector under an open-source license, enabling customers and developers to add support for other systems on their own.