The use of Hadoop to manage big data in the cloud has gained momentum in recent times, but according to MapR, the choice to use it is not just a possibility; it is an inevitability. MapR’s vice president of marketing, Jack Norris said companies have an “insatiable appetite” to analyze data in the cloud, and Hadoop is the one tool that can feed the hungry masses.

The main driving force for Hadoop adoption has been the rapid increase in the amount of data that businesses need to access and analyze. That means that a good data management system is a necessity. Haddop, Norris said, is uniquely well suited for handling big data in the cloud. Beyond scalability, Hadoop is also open source and more affordable than other solutions, according to MapR.

MapR recently partnered with Nimbula in an effort to bring its Hadoop distribution to the private cloud. It is only one of several new partnerships MapR has made in the past few months in its continued effort to strategically place Hadoop distribution at the forefront of the big data market. That includes MapR’s recent announcement that it had officially joined the Google Cloud Platform Partner Program.

Developed by the Apache Software Foundation and a community of developers, Hadoop is a free and open source distributed data application. MapR is one of a growing number IT companies that offer distribution of Hadoop as a service to their customers. Among MapR products are its free-to-use M3 Edition, and its subscription-based M5 Edition.

According to Norris, MapR is able to convince customers of the benefits of Hadoop because it is flexible, less complex than other solutions, and has a dynamic infrastructure that is ideal for managing and analyzing data in the cloud. Industry analysts expect the market for software like Hadoop to continue its steady growth, and that is good news for MapR.