In an effort to bring down the barrier between business analysts and big data analytics, Datameer Inc. today announced Datameer Cloud.

Running on Microsoft Azure HDInsight, Datameer Cloud provides one-stop self-service big data analytics—available as a service—to help enterprises integrate, visualize, analyze and operationalize data of any size, type or source.

The goal is to let business users analyze data and make quick decisions without having to know Apache Hadoop or having turn to IT to implement a Hadoop infrastructure, said Andrew Brust, Datameer’s senior director of market strategy and intelligence.

“Our tool has the rigor such that data scientists can work with it, but it is very much geared as a self-service tool for business users and business analysts to do big data analytics without having to have the big data skill set,” he said.

Now, with Datameer Cloud an organization can bypass an in-house installation. Within about an hour, a company can have a Hadoop cluster and Datameer software up and running with users accessing it via their browser, Brust said. Hadoop is running behind the scenes, but users never have to deal with it.

“We’re finding that a lot of companies, like our customers in gaming, ecommerce and retail, end up having very heavy-duty analytics needs, but they don’t have the Hadoop skills. Or they do, but that’s in the IT department, and the IT department is already stretched pretty thin. So, this really is a solution to that,” he said.

Datameer calls it an end-to-end solution. Rather than focusing on just data prep or visualization, Datameer “pretty much does it all,” Brust said: data ingest, data preparation, analysis, visualization and the ability to export that to other places all under one umbrella.

The tool has 270 functions and pulls in data from 70 different sources, including enterprise databases, data warehouses, API-based web services such as Google Analytics, and publications such as The New York Times, he said.

“There’s lots of power in there,” he said. “And the interface is through formulas that are very spreadsheet-like. So, anyone comfortable working in [Microsoft] Excel will be comfortable with this tool.”

Datameer Cloud fills a need, said David Menninger, senior vice president and research director at Ventana Research in a news release.

“Solutions like Datameer Cloud can help organizations apply cloud-based analytics to big data while reducing the burden of managing those systems with in-house technical resources and budgets,” he said.

All on Hadoop

What makes Datameer different from other analytics solutions for big data is that the engine is Hadoop. There’s no layer in between, Brust said.

“Rather than using Excel or Tableau as the tool, Datameer is the tool,” he said. “We’re keeping the data in Hadoop, and we’re doing the analytics and all of the heavy-duty legwork in Hadoop. We’re giving you Hadoop and the analytics front end to work with Hadoop. And that’s it; you don’t need anything else.”

If an organization wants to export analysis to Tableau Software tools, however, it is possible, Brust added.

Datameer had a previous cloud offering, but it was more complex. Users had to set up an account with a Hadoop-as-a-Service provider and with Datameer.

“This cloud version is really kind of a one-stop shop,” Brust said. “Instead of involving multiple parties, and there’s usually at least two—a Hadoop provider and an analytics provider—with us, you have just one. You’re still getting all of the same components, but we’re the one liaison to everything.”

It’s more efficient and allows for better support, he said.

Powered by Microsoft Azure

Datameer Cloud was developed in close collaboration with Microsoft, Brust said. It’s powered by Microsoft Azure Cloud and Microsoft Azure HDInsight.

“This is a real HDInsight cluster, plus Datameer Cloud and all of the power that implies is there,” he said. “But what’s also good is you don’t need an account with Microsoft on Azure. You’re just coming to us. We’re the single source—one bill, one source of support and one interface.”

Also, because Datameer Cloud runs on Azure, everything runs through a secure SSL connection, Brust said.

In addition, every Datameer Cloud customer has a single-tenant environment, including data protection and encryption. The tool sits on a closed Microsoft Virtual Network infrastructure, where data is encrypted and end-user transmission access is provided through secure http (https).

Datameer has security and data masking features that can be applied before data is ingested to meet compliance requirements. Strict access is provided through role-based user access with permissions and sharing features.

Brust also said customers have all of the redundancy they would get from Azure storage.

Pricing

Pricing for Datameer Cloud starts at $49,000 per year for 10TB of storage and a three-node Hadoop cluster, but it can scale up as needed.

Photo credit: Ben Scherjon via pixabay