NetApp and Hadoop

I just came from a meeting over at NetApp.  I've been a fan of their products in the past and have deployed out numerous systems using them all over the world.  The key advantage in the past has always been their replication technology that ships with each system.

I ran across an article from GigaOM yesterday entitled "NetApp does network-attached Hadoop" http://goo.gl/HhjYe.  Notably in the article is a simple rational why NetApp is partnering with Coudera on this:

"The ultimate goal of the new NetApp product, Albanese said, is threefold: 1) to separate the compute and storage layers of Hadoop so each can scale independently; 2) to fit with next-generation data center models around efficiency and space savings; and 3) to improve reliability by being able to hot-swap failed drives and otherwise leverage NetApp’s storage expertise."

I would also add a forth reason, NetApp is tied to the Federal Government sales chain and the Feds are in Lobe with Hadoop at the moment.  This product will give the Feds a simplified way to purchase a Hadoop stack that is easy to understand.


We are pretty excited about this product so we will be taking a look at this when we get one and report back what we find.