EMC brings together Isilon and Greenplum for big data analytics

EMC is integrating technologies from its Isilon and Greenplum subsidiaries to position itself as a one-stop-shop for enterprise customers looking to implement big data analytics systems based on the Hadoop framework.

The storage giant has announced the integration of the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) protocol into its EMC Isilon clustered storage kit, which means that Hadoop deployments can now directly store data on these instead of requiring their own dedicated storage.

When combined with EMC Greenplum HD software, the company said it is now able to offer customers a single solution for big data analytics that it will support with consultation, design and implementation services, plus training for staff.

"We're now able to say to customers that you just call us and we'll help you with any part of that Hadoop stack - the compute, the storage, the analytics in-between - and we'll align with your roadmap," Nick Kirsch, director of product management for EMC Isilon told V3.

Although Hadoop and big data have both been generating a lot of interest lately, this kind of technology is still at a fairly early stage of adoption, and significant challenges face the pioneers.

According to EMC, one of the chief barriers to adoption is that Hadoop requires dedicated storage infrastructure, preferably direct attached storage (DAS) at each node, which conflicts with the move towards consolidated storage architectures inside enterprise datacentres.

Perhaps more seriously, typical Hadoop deployments have a single point of failure, the Name node, which manages where data is stored. If this node fails, so does the whole Hadoop infrastructure.