Open-source big data engine Hadoop has become one of the fastest growing trends in the IT world, and the number of companies that get involved with this ecosystem – both solution providers and users – consistently contributes to their growth. One of the latest names on the list is Microsoft.

On the same day it announced SQL Server 2012, the software maker revealed a strategic partnership with Hortonworks that will help it integrate Hadoop into Windows Server and Windows Azure. A visibility suite called PowerView and a couple of Hadoop connectors for SQL Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server Parallel Data Warehouse have already been launched, and Hortonworks will work with Microosft’s R&D crew to develop the rest.

Microsoft is hoping to tap a rapidly growing market, which also happens to be a very competitive one.  And it seems the competition between Cloudera and Hortonworks on delivering enterprise-level Hadoop services extends beyond market share to a more personal level: Jeff Kelly looks at some important points of comparison between the two companies, noting the perspectives of Cloudera and Hortonworks CEOs.

The Hadoop market also attracted a more traditional player: Oracle.  The company announced a NoSQL product at Oracle OpenWorld 2011, which fuses Hadoop and NoSQL with Oracle offerings. Oracle isn’t giving up on its core SQL portfolio just yet in favor of big data.  Here we discuss how the Oracle Big Data Appliance, as it’s called, is more of a marketing ploy than a new strategy for the company.

The reason behind all this competition is demand. A survey commissioned by analytics UI developer Karmasphere found that 54 percent of the respondents’ organizations are either considering or already using Hadoop. And as the usage of big data analytics tools becomes more widespread, so does the demand for big data scientists.