While the broader industry is only now emerging from the holiday slump, the analytics ecosystem continued more or less apace last week as databases took the limelight following major updates to two of the hottest platforms around.

The Ashton Kutcher-backed MemSQL Inc. set the ball rolling on Monday with the introduction of a much-needed connector for importing data from external information sources. The startup’s namesake platform consolidates transaction processing and analytics, two distinctly different workloads that have traditionally been handled separately, into a single environment that reduces operational complexity while avoiding the need for time-consuming migrations. The new connector is intended to cut the hassle involved in tapping information from other parts of the organization.

MemSQL Data Loader launched with support for Amazon.com Inc.’s popular S3 storage service, users of which include the Central Intelligence Agency, which is an indirect investor in the startup. It also works with Hadoop, which makes the database more attractive for the growing number of organizations employing the batch processing framework to perform historical analysis.

Hortonworks, Inc., one of the top three Hadoop distributors and the first to go public, has been actively working on helping third party vendors such as MemSQL make their complementary offerings more appealing to customers as part of its broader ecosystem strategy. The company also made a few waves during the holiday season with the addition of three new badges to its popular certification program.

Partners can now receive recognition for providing integration with Apache Ambari, the management framework Hortonworks ships as the default configuration and monitoring solution in its distribution. The company also offers certifications for solutions making use of the Apache Falcon governance component as well as software that fully implements the security and policy enforcement capabilities available in the upstream Hadoop ecosystem.

While Hortonworks is trying address the pressing operational requirements of large-scale analytic clusters, Actian Corp. is focusing on the small. The company earned its own share of the limelight last week after unveiling a new version of its embedded database that adds the ability to defragment files without incurring any downtime and makes it possible to migrate licenses across virtual machines. That combination can potentially take a great deal of hassle out of everyday administration work.

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