Oracle looks like it is investing in R, the programming language of choice for statistical analysis and rich, data visualization.

Oracle says it will integrate R with its Oracle Database. Other signs from Oracle show the deeper interest in using the statistical framework for integration with Hadoop to potentially speed statistical analysis. This has particular value with analyzing vast amounts of unstructured data, which has overwhelmed organizations, especially over the past year.

The Register has an excellent overview on the topic with a focus on Revolution Analytics and its implementation. It works like this. The R engine runs atop Hadoop clusters, chewing on the unstructured data there instead of being fed into MapReduce and then back out again. This can help speed up the analysis for optimized real-time results.

Services Angle

“Oracle’s Hadoop connector and support for R aren’t game changers, they’re Band-Aids on existing products,” said my colleague Klint Finley. “They just provide a way to connect legacy Oracle technology to newer analytics technology. A Hadoop connector is table stakes at this point.”

I think that sums up a lot of what we can expect to see from Oracle over the next week.  The big winners in all of this will certainly be traditional service providers such as CSC and Deloitte that can integrate these new and old technologies.