Apache Hadoop, the open-source-based software used for storing, processing and analyzing big data, has taken its share of lumps over the past year based on its integration complexity and concerns about data governance. Yet, the news that IBM Corp. and Hortonworks Inc. will be teaming up to infuse combined data management platforms with machine learning and artificial intelligence shows that these two major players aren’t backing away from Hadoop at all. In fact, they appear to be doubling down on the beleaguered distributed computing technology.

“The issue is not Hadoop,” said Rob Thomas (pictured, left), general manager of IBM Analytics. “Just putting data in Hadoop doesn’t drive an outcome.”

Thomas appeared on the set of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile live-streaming studio, along with Rob Bearden (pictured, right), chief executive officer of Hortonworks, and answered questions from hosts Lisa Martin (@Luccazara) and George Gilbert (@ggilbert41) during DataWorks Summit in San Jose, California. (*Disclosure below.)

They discussed the recently announced collaboration between their companies and how they expect to support enterprise data management platforms to achieve mission-critical needs.

Goal is to exploit Hadoop’s data trove

Both executives spoke about their partnership to distribute machine learning and data science technologies across the Hadoop ecosystem. Thomas made it clear that the goal is to drive outcomes that will leverage advances in data science.

“There’s another great trove of data in every organization, which is the data inside Hadoop,” Thomas said.

To leverage that data, whether it’s on-premises or stored in the cloud, IBM and Hortonworks want to use their resources and drive analytics end-to-end in the data life cycle. IBM’s Data Science Experience will be a major contributor to that effort.

“It’s all going to be attributable to how machine learning is applied, and the DSX platform is the best platform to do that,” Bearden said.

The impetus for collaboration between the two firms stems from a growing realization that only 10 companies outperformed the Standard and Poor’s 500 index in each of the last five years, according to Thomas. All 10 made big bets on data science and machine learning.

“There is something happening in the market right now, and it can make a huge difference in how you are applying data and analytics to manage your business,” Thomas concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of DataWorks Summit. (* Disclosure: Hortonworks Inc. sponsored this DataWorks Summit segment on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither Hortonworks nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE