MapR launches EMEA channel for Hadoop software

US vendor seeks UK SIs and big-data specialists for business grade version

Hadoop business software provider MapR has opened an office in London and embarked on building a UK and EMEA reseller channel.

Steve Jenkins, the newly minted European vice president for US-based MapR, said the company offered end users an easier way to benefit from the big-data analytics trend through its business-grade Hadoop distro.

"Our value proposition is we remove the complexity but also make [Hadoop] enterprise-ready," he told Channelweb. "I think many customers start playing with big data and they acknowledge it can add value to their business, and then they start getting serious and need to make sure it is reliable. Instead of taking two days to get something out, they can get it in 10 minutes."

Apache Hadoop can be described as an open-source software framework for supporting data-intensive distributed applications, such as business intelligence software hosted on commodity hardware clusters. MapR's versions – of which one has been licensed by EMC – boasts superior ease of use for business customers.

"We've got a relationship with Cisco, HP and EMC, and we have already partnered with Google and Amazon," Jenkins (pictured) said. "What Hadoop didn't have was enterprise features such as snapshotting and high availability."

MapR began working with an Islington-based developer and services provider, Big Data Partnership, some months before the UK launch, but is keen to find more channel partners – looking first at SIs and resellers that have already gained some Hadoop expertise in the big data, business analytics arena.

A team of three will be based in the London office – Jenkins, a sales manager and a technical specialist. The company is following the UK opening – which kicked off the new year – up this week by opening a second European office in Munich.

"The next one will be the Mediterranean countries, based out of Paris," Jenkins said.